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E.  \V.  CLARK. 
Originator  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  Expedition  to  Babylonia. 


NIPPUR 

OR 

EXPLORATIONS  AND  ADVENTURES 
ON  THE  EUPHRATES 


THE    NARRATIVE   OF   THE    UNIVERSITY    OF 

PENNSYLVANIA    EXPEDITION    TO 

BABYLONIA  IN  THE  YEARS 

1888-1890 


BY 
JOHN  PUNNETT  PETERS,  PH.D.,  Sc.D.,  D.D. 

Director  of  the  Expedition 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  MAPS 


VOLUME  1. 
FIRST  CAMPAIGN 


SECOND  EDITION 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

i,\t   llnickcrbocktt   ^rcss 

i8q8 


Copyright,  1897 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London 


Ube  Iktiicherbocfter  iPress,  IRew  jgorft 


To  THE  Public-Spirited  Gentlemen 
OF   Philadelphia 

WHO    MADE    THE    EXPEDITION    POSSIBLE 

THESE  Volumes  are  Respectfully 
Dedicated 


PREFACE. 


No  city  in  this  country  has  shown  an  interest  in  archeol- 
ogy at  all  comparable  with  that  displayed  by  Philadelphia, 
A  group  of  public-spirited  gentlemen  in  that  city  has  given 
without  stint  time  and  money  for  explorations  in  Babylonia, 
Egypt,  Central  America,  Italy,  Greece,  and  our  own  land  ; 
and  has,  within  the  last  ten  years  amassed  archaeological  col- 
lections which  are  unsurpassed  in  this  country.  The  first  im- 
portant work  undertaken  was  the  Babylonian  Expedition.  As 
described  in  the  Narrative,  this  expedition  was  inaugurated  by 
a  Philadelphia  banker,  Mr.  E.  W.  Clark.  The  enterprise  was 
taken  up  in  its  infancy  by  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
under  the  lead  of  its  provost,  Dr.  William  Pepper.  Dr.  Pepper 
made  this  expedition  and  the  little  band  of  men  who  liad 
become  interested  in  it  the  nucleus  for  further  enterprises. 
A  library  and  museum  were  built,  an  Archaeological  Associa- 
tion was  formed,  and  a  band  of  men  was  gathered  together  in 
Philadelphia  who  have  contributed  with  a  liberality  and  en- 
thusiasm quite  unparalleled  for  the  prosecution  of  archaeologi- 
cal research  in  almost  all  parts  of  the  world.  Upwards  of 
$70,000.00  have  been  spent  on  Babylonian  exploration  alone  ; 
and  Philadelphia  and  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  have 
won  a  noble  and  unique  reputation,  for  princely  liberality  in 
the  support  of  scientific  explorations,  wherever  scholarship  is 
honored  and  admired,  both  in  this  country  and  abroad. 

These  two  volumes  bear  the  title,  Nippur.  Before  the 
explorations  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  Expedition, 
that  name  was  known  only  to  a  few  scholars,  and  they  knew 


vi  PREFA  CE. 

little  more  than  the  name  of  the  city  and  that  at  an  early 
period  it  had  played  an  important  part  in  the  religious  develop- 
ment of  Babylonia  and,  through  Babylonia,  of  the  world. 
We  now  know  that  in  the  times  of  the  glory  of  Nineveh  and 
Babylon  the  name  of  "  Nippur  "  was  as  familiar  to  the  citizens 
of  those  cities  as  the  names  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon  are 
to  us,  and  that  Nippur  exercised  on  their  religious  life 
and  religious  development  an  influence  as  potent  as  that 
of  Jerusalem  on  our  own.  The  Temple  of  Bel  at  Nippur 
was  to  the  religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria  very  much  what 
the  Temple  of  Jerusalem  was  to  our  religion.  It  was  this  city, 
which  exercised  so  great  an  influence  on  the  religious  life  of 
the  people  that  so  long  dominated  the  civilized  world,  and  so 
materially  affected  and  determined  the  religious  and  scientific 
development  of  both  Orient  and  Occident,  and  particularly 
the  great  Temple  of  Bel  in  that  city,  the  oldest  temple  in  the 
world,  which  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  Expedition  ex- 
plored. 

I  have  called  this  temple  "  the  oldest  temple  in  the  world." 
We  found  that  Nippur  was  a  great  and  flourishing  city,  and 
its  temple,  the  Temple  of  Bel,  the  religious  centre  of  the 
dominant  people  of  the  world  at  a  period  as  much  prior  to  the 
time  of  Abraham  as  the  time  of  Abraham  is  prior  to  our  day. 
We  discovered  written  records  no  less  than  6000  years  old, 
and  proved  that  writing  and  civilization  were  then  by  no 
means  in  their  infanc}'.  Further  than  that,  our  explorations 
have  shown  that  Nippur  possessed  a  history  extending  back- 
ward of  the  earliest  written  documents  found  by  us,  at  least 
2000  years. 

The  history  of  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  research  has  been 
full  of  surprises.  The  explorations  of  Layard  at  Nineveh 
astonished  the  world  by  their  revelation  of  buried  cities  and 
buried  records,  all  antedating  the  earliest  Greek  and  Roman 
civilization  of  which  men  then  had  any  knowledge.  The  dis- 
coveries of  George  Smith — the  deciphering  of  the  libraries 
brought  by  Layard  from  Nineveh — excited  even  more  wonder 
and  surprise,  by  revealing  the  close  connection  existing  be- 
tween Babylonian  and    HebrcAv  civilization,  legends,  myths. 


PREFACE.  vii 

and  religion.  The  work  recently  done  in  Babylonia,  both  by 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  Expedition,  and  also  by  the 
French  explorations  at  Tello,  southward  of  Nippur,  have 
opened  to  us  new  vistas  of  ancient  history.  They  have  shown 
us  that  men  in  a  high  state  of  civilization,  building  cities, 
organizing  states,  conducting  distant  expeditions  for  conquest, 
ruling  wide-extended  countries,  trafficking  with  remote  lands, 
existed  in  Babylonia  2000  years  before  the  period  assigned 
by  Archbishop  Ussher's  chronology  for  the  creation  of  the 
world.  Our  work  at  Nippur  has  carried  our  knowledge  of 
civilized  man  2000  years  farther  backward,  an  enormous 
stride  to  make  at  one  time. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  be,  in  a  sense,  the  discoverer  of 
Nippur,  as  these  pages  will  show,  but  this  was  in  very  truth 
my  good  fortune,  and  not  my  merit.  Our  first  year's  work, 
which  is  described  in  the  first  volume,  was  more  or  less  of  a 
failure,  so  far  at  least  as  Nippur  was  concerned.  In  contrast 
with  this,  our  second  campaign,  which  is  described  in  the 
second  volume,  was  a  complete  success.  The  amount  of  in- 
scribed stones,  bricks,  and  tablets  found  by  us  was  enormous, 
not  to  speak  of  uninscribed  objects,  sarcophagi,  pottery,  stone 
and  metal  implements,  and  the  like  ;  but  what  was  far  more 
important,  a  large  part  of  these  objects  came  from  a  period 
up  to  that  time  regarded  as  not  only  prehistoric,  but  even 
remotely  prehistoric,  antedating  all  possible  history  by  several 
millenniums.  In  fact,  we  had  found  the  oldest  inscriptions 
ever  discovered.  Further,  we  had  in  large  part  explored  the 
Temple  of  Bel,  and  in  doing  so  had  made  an  important  con- 
tribution to  the  history  of  religion. 

The  results  of  the  second  year's  campaign  were  so  satisfac- 
tory that  it  was  determined  to  carry  on  the  work  farther,  and 
Dr.  J.  H.  Haynes  was  sent  out  to  conduct  the  excavations  on 
the  lines  laid  down  by  the  first  expedition.  His  excavations 
extended  over  the  years  1893-95,  and  were  eminently  success- 
ful. He  explored  the  Temple  farther,  and  found  almost 
double  as  much  inscribed  material  as  had  been  unearthed  by 
me,  much  of  it  of  the  very  earliest  period.  But  his  excavations, 
by  their  very  success,  only  made  it  clearer  that  all  the  immense 


viii  PREFA  CE. 

mound  of  Nippur  should  be  explored  to  its  bottom-most 
layers.  The  public-spirited  gentlemen  of  Philadelphia,  so  far 
from  abandoning  the  Herculean  task,  raised  the  funds  to  send 
out  still  a  third  expedition  to  take  up  Dr.  Haynes's  work  as  he 
laid  it  down.  Unfortunately,  the  person  chosen  for  this  work 
allowed  himself  to  be  turned  back,  after  he  had  reached  the 
field,  by  the  report  of  the  danger  and  difficulty  of  the  task  ; 
and  for  two  years  the  work  has  been  in  abeyance  ;  but  only  in 
abeyance,  for  it  is  the  intention  of  the  Archseological  Depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  so  soon  as  the  times 
permit,  to  resume  and  ultimately  complete  the  excavation  of 
this  most  ancient  city  yet  discovered. 

It  will  be  many  years  before  the  immense  amount  of  inscribed 
material  excavated  by  these  expeditions,  part  of  which  is  in 
the  Imperial  Museum  in  Constantinople,  and  part  in  the  Mu- 
seum of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  has  been  published, 
or  even  rendered  accessible  to  scholars.  There  are,  it  is  esti- 
mated, between  30,000  and  40,000  inscribed  objects,  the 
inscriptions  on  which  cover  a  period  of  over  5000  years. 
These  inscriptions  are  being  published  in  fac-simile  form 
under  the  editorship  of  Professor  Hilprecht,  and  after  the 
texts  have  been  thus  rendered  accessible  to  Babylonian  scholars 
it  is  proposed  to  publish  a  series  of  translations  to  make  them 
accessible  to  the  general  public.  Up  to  this  date  one  volume 
in  two  parts  has  appeared,  containing  the  more  ancient  texts. 

I  may  not  close  this  preface  without  tendering  my  thanks  to 
the  liberal-minded  patrons  of  research  who  haveundertakenand 
carried  out  this  great  work  of  exploration,  and  under  whose 
official  sanction  these  volumes  are  published  ;  to  the  Profes- 
sors of  Robert  College,  who  assisted  us  so  materially  ;  to  my 
colleagues  in  the  expedition  ;  to  Talcott  Williams,  LL.  D., 
who  by  his  wise  counsel  has  been  a  mainstay  of  the  expedition 
from  first  to  last  ;  to  M.  Pognon,  Mr.  Pinches,  and  Professor 
Sayce,  Assyriologists,  who  assisted  me  with  many  helpful  sug- 
gestions ;  to  Professor  Gottheil  ;  to  Professor  Jastrow,  who 
placed  at  my  disposal  the  proofs  of  his  Babylonian-Assyrian 
Religion  ;  to  Dr.  Ward,  Director  of  the  Wolfe  Expedition,  who 
has  furnished  me  for  publication  a  narrative  of  his  explorations, 


PRE  FA  CE.  IX 

and  also  permitted  me  to  use  as  illustrations  many  valuable 
photographs  taken  by  the  Wolfe  Expedition  ;  and  last,  but 
not  least,  to  my  dear  wife,  whose  helpful  courage  kept  me  in 
the  field  when  I  was  sorely  tempted  to  resign. 

John  P,  Peters. 
St.  Michael's  Church, 

New  York, 

May  15th,  1897. 


CONTEXTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I. — Organizing  the  Expedition    .         .         .         .         i 

II. — Obtaining  an  Irade          .         .         .         .         -19 

III. — Impressions  of  Constantinople      ...       44 

IV. — The  Discovery  of  Tiphsah      .         .         .         .       bS 

V. — The  City  of  Zenobia       .....     100 

YI. — Deir  to  'Anah 122 

VII.  — A  City  of  Pitch 152 

A^III. — Hit  to  Baghdad 165 

IX. — Baghdad  and  Babylon  .         .         .         .191 

X. — Nippur  at  Last         .         .         .         .         .         .220 

XI. — The  First  Campaign         ...  .     242 

XII. — The  Catastrophe     .         .         .         .         .         -279 

APPENDICES. 

A. — Subscription  Paper  of  the  Babylonian  Explor- 
ation Fund  .......     295 

B. — First  Application  for  Permission  to  Excavate     298 

C. — Irade  Granting  Permission  to  Excavate         .     301 

D. — Translation  of  Turkish   Law  on  Arch^olog- 

ical  Excavations       ......     305 

E. — The  Geography  of  the  Euphrates    .         .  310 

F. — Wolfe  Expedition  to  Babylonia         .         .         .     318 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PACK 

Portrait  of  E.  W.  Clark      ....         Frontispiece 
Originator  of  the   University  of   Pennsylvania  Expedition  to 
Babylonia. 

Clay  Barrel  Cylinder 14 

Containing  five  hundred  lines  of  inscription  of  Nebuchadrez- 
zar the  Great.  Found  in  Babylon.  (The  inscription  con- 
tains an  account  of  the  buildings  of  Nebuchadrezzar, 
including  canals.) 

Turkish  Houses  at    Courouchesme,    on    the    Bos- 

phorus 24 

House  of  O.  Hamdy  Bey. 

Portrait  of  O.  Hamdy  Bey        .         .  .         .       26 

Director  of  the  Imperial  Ottoman  Museum. 

White-Turbaned  Softas 29 

Scene  in  the  Environs  of  Constantinople     .         .       44 
The  Sweet  Waters  of  Europe  on  a  Friday  afternoon. 

Mevlewee  Dervish  with  Inverted  Water-Bucket 

Hat 59 

Armenian  Porters  Carrying  Large  Cases  of  Goods  64 

Turkish  Deck  Passengers 69 

A  Typical  Cone  Village  of  Northern   Syria         .  82 

Plan  of  Zenobia 11 1 

Main  Gate  of  Salahieh  from  the  Desert      .         .  130 

Plan  of  Salahieh         .......  132 


X  i  V  ILL  US  TEA  TIOXS. 


PAGE 


A  Babylonian  Water  Wheel  or  Jird        .         .         .     136 
Plan  of  Jabrieh   .         .         .         .         .         .         .         -139 

Ruins  of  City  Wall  of  Unbaked  Brick  at  Jabrieh  .     140 
Water-Wheels  of  the  Euphrates     ....     141 

Weaving  Cloth  among  the  Palms  at  'Anah  on  the 

Euphrates       ........     144 

A  Naoura  Water-Wheel  at  'Anah  on  the  Eu- 
phrates . 14S 

A  Xoachian  Boatyard  at  Hit  on  the  Euphrates     162 

Plan  of  'Anbar 177 

The  Ruined  Tower  of  'Akerkuf,  near  Baghdad  .     1S8 

A  Scene  on  the  Tigris  at  Baghdad         .         .         .190 
Showing  characteristic  native  boats,   the  long  turadas,    and 
the   round,    pitch-smeared    kufas,    with    bridge   of    boats 
beyond. 

The  Tomb  of  Zobeide,  the  Favorite  Wife  of  Harun- 

er-Rashid,  at  Baghdad 194 

Tak-i-Khesra  ;   the  Ruins  of  the  White  Palace  of 

Chosroes  at   Ctesiphon         .         .         .  .198 

Arab  Khan  on  the   Persian  Pilgrim   Route   from 

Baghdad  to  Kerbela  ......     206 

BiRS    NiMRUD,   THE    TOWER    OF    BaBEL    .  .  .  .       214 

Kal'at  Amerika    ........     234 

The  First  Year's  Camp,  from  the  East,  showing  a  great 
Trench  in  foreground. 

Affech  Arab  Building  a  Hut  of  Reeds  and  Mats     236 
Nippur 242 

Taken  from  a  cast  of  the  mounds,  showing  excavations  of 
first  year.  The  Temple  Hill  is  to  the  right.  Roman 
numbers  indicate  hills  where  excavations  were  made. 
Arabic  numerals  show  the  heights  of  the  mounds  in  metres 
above  apparent  plain  level. 

Arab  Women  .         .  243 


ILL  US  TRA  TIONS.  XV 

PAGE 

Arab  Workman's  Hut  .......     248 

A  Deep  Trench  on  Tablet  Hill  (V.)  250 

Showing  constructions  of  Xerxes's  time  above,  and  remains  of 
2000  B.C.  below. 

The  Muthif  or  Guest   House  of  ax  Arab  Sheikh 

IN  Southern  Babylonia        .....     252 

Female  Avocations 256 

Arab  women  pounding  grain  to  make  bread. 

Map  of  Irak,  or  Babylonia,  from  Baghdad  to  Ur 

Iji  pocket  at  end  of  volume 

Map  Showing   Routes   of   Babylonian   Expedition 

ON  THE  Euphrates         .         .  In  pocket  at  end  of  volume 


NIPPUR 

OR   EXPLORATIONS  AND  ADVENTURES  ON 
THE   EUPHRATES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ORGANIZING   THE   EXPEDITION. 

American  Oriental  Society — An  Expedition  Proposed — The  Wolfe  Expedi- 
tion— The  Government  and  the  Consulates — An  Unexpected  Friend — 
University  of  Pennsylvania — The  Turkish  Law — Application  for  Fir- 
man— Friction  at  Home — Organization — A  More  Extensive  Plan — 
Personnel — A  Consulate  at  Baghdad — Purchasing  Supplies — Visit  to 
London — International  Co-operation  Impossible — Purchasing  Antiqui- 
ties— Paris  and  Berlin — German  Friendliness. 

*'   I  7 N GLAND  and  France  have  done  a  noble  work  of 

J y     exploration  in  Assyria  and  Babylonia.     It  is  time 

for  America  to  do  her  part.     Let  us  send  out  an  Ameri- 
can expedition." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  American  Oriental  Society  in  New 
Haven  in  October,  1884,  those  members  of  the  Society 
interested  in  Semitic  studies  were  called  together  by  Pro- 
fessor Toy  of  Harvard,  this  proposition  was  laid  before 
them,  and  a  committee  was  formed  forthwith  to  raise 
funds  to  send  an  American  expedition  to  Babylonia. 
It  was  announced  that  the  late  Mr.  Henry  C.  Bowen, 
editor  of  T/ie  Independent,  would  give  five  hundred  dollars 


2  XIPPCR. 

toward  an  expedition ;  and  after  some  discussion  it  was 
agreed,  that  if  $4500  could  be  provided,  an  expedition  of 
exploration  and  reconnoissance  only  should  be  sent  out, 
w4th  Dr.  Ward  as  director. 

Among  others  to  whom  I  applied  as  likely  to  be  inter- 
ested in  work  of  this  description,  was  the  late  Miss 
Catherine  Lorillard  Wolfe  of  New  York.  In  reply,  she 
invited  me  to  breakfast  with  her.  Bishop  Potter  was 
present  at  the  breakfast,  and  his  good  offices  were  un- 
doubtedly used  in  recommending  the  enterprise  as  one 
worthy  of  assistance.  Miss  W^olfe  asked  scarcely  any 
questions  about  the  particular  enterprise,  but  showed 
interest  in  the  general  subject  of  Oriental  exploration. 
After  breakfast  she  gave  me  a  paper  signed  by  herself, 
promising  to  pay  $5000  on  demand  for  the  purpose  of 
sending  an  expedition  to  Babylonia.  She  alone  was  to 
send  this  out,  and  the  S500  beyond  the  amount  estimated 
by  Dr.  Ward  as  necessary  for  his  expedition  were  to  be 
used  for  purposes  of  photography.  With  her  consent 
the  money  was  turned  over  to  the  Archaeological  Insti- 
tute of  America,  which  assumed  the  responsibility  for 
the  expedition.  Dr.  Ward  was  appointed  director,  and 
to  him  was  given  as  aide  Dr.  Sterrett.  It  was  intended 
to  attach  to  this  expedition  Dr.  J.  T.  Clarke,  director  of 
the  excavations  at  Assos,  but  the  work  on  which  he  was 
then  engaged  rendered  this  impracticable.  Some  account 
of  the  Wolfe  Expedition  and  its  results  will  be  found  in 
an  appendix  to  this  volume. 

W'ith  the  collection  of  funds  for  this  expedition,  the 
original  committee  of  the  Oriental  Society  seems  to  have 
passed  out  of  existence.  Some  of  us,  however,  continued 
to  labor  individually  to  further  the  interests  of  exploration 
not  only  in  Babylonia,  but  also  in  hither  Asia  in  general. 
It  seemed  to  me  that  much  might  be  done  if  our  Govern- 
ment would  follow  the  policy  of  the  French  Government, 
and   appoint   as   consuls,  at  places    where   archaeological 


ORGANIZING  THE  EXPEDITION.  3 

interests  are  important,  men  with  some  knowledge  of  and 
interest  in  archaeology.  At  my  suggestion,  committees  of 
the  American  Oriental  Society  and  the  American  Institute 
of  Archaeology  were  appointed  to  urge  this  policy  on  the 
Government;  and  Mr.  Cleveland  was  asked  to  consider 
the  interests  of  science,  as  well  as  of  commerce,  in  filling 
the  consulships  of  Smyrna,  Beirout,  and  Jerusalem,  but 
in  vain.  Inspired  by  the  achievements  of  the  French 
consul-general  at  Baghdad,  M.  de  Sarzec,  I  even  corre- 
sponded with  the  authorities  at  Washington,  and  some  of 
the  merchants  in  New  York  who  import  wool  from  Bagh- 
dad, with  regard  to  the  establishment  of  a  consulate  at 
that  city;  but  our  commercial  interests  there  proved  to 
be  small,  and  it  was  the  policy  of  the  Government  to 
establish  new  consulates  only  where  demanded  in  the 
interest  of  commerce:  hence  this  effort  also  failed. 

After  the  return  of  Dr.  Ward,  in  1886,  I  endeavored  to 
collect  funds  to  send  out  a  second  expedition  for  purposes 
of  excavation.  Mr.  W.  W.  Frazier  of  Philadelphia  be- 
came interested  in  the  matter  in  the  winter  of  1886,  and 
communicated  with  one  or  two  gentlemen  on  the  subject, 
and  placed  me  in  communication  with  others;  but  to  no 
purpose  apparently,  for,  excepting  himself,  no  one  seemed 
to  care  to  take  up  such  an  enterprise. 

In  July  of  1887,  I  was  visiting  at  the  house  of  a  friend 
at  Intervale,  in  the  White  Mountains,  w^iere  I  met  Mr. 
E.  W.  Clark,  the  brother  of  my  hostess.  One  Sunday 
morning,  while  walking  up  and  down  the  verandah,  wait- 
ing for  the  wagon  to  take  us  to  church,  Mr.  Clark, 
knowing  that  I  was  much  interested  in  Assyrian  and 
Babylonian  study,  asked  me  some  questions  about  ex- 
plorations in  those  countries.  In  the  course  of  our  con- 
versation I  told  him  what  had  been  done  by  the  explorers 
of  other  countries.  I  also  gave  him  an  account  of  the 
Wolfe  Expedition,  and  our  failure  to  secure  funds  to  fol- 
low it  up  by  excavations,  but  without  the  slightest  idea 


4  NIPPUR. 

that  he  was  hkely  to  be  interested  in  a  matter  of  this 
description.  To  my  great  surprise,  as  the  wagon  came 
to  the  door  and  brought  our  conversation  to  a  close,  I\Ir. 
Clark  said  to  me:  "  I  think  we  can  send  out  an  expedi- 
tion from  Philadelphia.  I  should  be  glad  to  contribute, 
and  I  am  sure  that  my  brother  will  do  the  same.  When 
we  return  to  Philadelphia  in  the  autumn,  come  and  see 
me,  and  we  will  arrange  the  matter." 

Convinced  that  what  Mr.  Clark  undertook  he  would 
perform,  and  assured  of  the  interest  and  co-operation  of 
Mr.  Frazier,  I  at  once  began  to  plan  out  an  expedition  to 
Babylonia,  and  to  gather  facts  and  figures,  so  that  there 
might  be  no  delay  in  the  autumn.  My  original  plan  was 
a  very  modest  one,  involving  for  one  year's  work  an  out- 
lay of  $7500.  Besides  myself,  I  proposed  to  have  one 
assyriologist,  Mr.  Pinches,  of  the  British  Museum,  whose 
experience  as  curator  would,  I  thought,  render  him 
peculiarly  efficient  in  the  field  in  determining  rapidly  the 
character  of  the  objects  found,  cataloguing  and  reporting 
upon  them,  and  preparing  them  for  transport.  I  proposed 
further  to  secure  the  services,  as  photographer  and  busi- 
ness manager,  of  Mr.  J.  H.  Haynes.  who  had  accom- 
panied the  Wolfe  Expedition  in  the  same  capacity,  and 
who  was  at  that  time  in  Aintab  in  Turkey ;  and,  as  inter- 
preter, of  Mr.  Daniel  Z.  Noorian,  the  interpreter  of  the 
Wolfe  Expedition,  who  had  followed  Dr.  Ward  to  this 
country.  I  corresponded  with  our  minister  in  Constan- 
tinople, and  with  Dr.  Long  of  Robert  College,  in  regard 
to  the  method  and  chances  of  obtaining  permission  to 
excavate  in  Babylonia,  and  in  general  gathered  all  pos- 
sible information  during  the  summer,  in  order  that  I 
might  have  a  definite  plan  to  propose  in  the  autumn. 

True  to  his  word,  in  the  autumn  of  1887,  Mr.  E.  W. 
Clark  took  up  with  energy  the  matter  of  organizing  a 
Babylonian  expedition  from  Philadelphia,  in  company 
with  his  brother,  Mr.  Clarence  H.  Clark.     After  we  had 


ORGANIZIXG    THE  EXPEDITION;  5 

collected  a  few  subscriptions,  it  was  decided  that  it  was 
desirable  to  connect  the  expedition  with  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  to  ask  the  provost  of  that  institu- 
tion to  act  as  president  of  the  fund.  The  condition 
proposed  to  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  was  that  it 
should  provide  a  fire-proof  building  with  proper  accom- 
modation for  receiving  any  such  "  finds  "  as  might  result 
from  the  excavations.  The  authorities  of  the  university 
willingly  agreed  to  accept  the  expedition  on  this  condi- 
tion, and  a  meeting  was  called  at  the  house  of  Provost 
Pepper,  November  30,  1887,  at  which  some  twenty-five 
to  thirty  persons  were  present,  including  Dr.  Ward  of 
New  York,  who  gave  a  brief  account  of  the  work  of  the 
Wolfe  Expedition,  and  described  the  results  to  be  ob- 
tained by  further  work  in  Babylonia.  I  stated  my  plans, 
and  gave  such  information  as  I  could  regarding  the  pos- 
sibilities of  conducting  excavations  in  Babylonia,  the 
available  sites,  the  cost  of  the  work,  the  results  to  be 
expected,  and  so  forth.  A  subscription  paper,  intended 
to  provide  for  several  years*  work,  was  presented  for 
signatures,  and  some  $7000  or  $8000  were  subscribed  that 
evening. 

Application  for  a  firman  to  conduct  excavations  was 
at  once  made  in  the  name  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  law  concerning  antiquities  in  the  Turkish 
Empire,  under  which  all  such  excavations  must  be  con- 
ducted, provides  that  all  objects  found  shall  belong  to 
the  Ottoman  Imperial  Museum,  foreign  explorers  not 
being  permitted  to  take  any  antiquities  from  the  country, 
but  only  photographs,  squeezes,  and  the  like.  The 
application  for  permission  to  excavate  must  designate  the 
spot  at  which  the  excavations  are  to  be  conducted,  which 
must  not  cover  an  area  of  more  than  ten  square  kilo- 
metres, and  a  topographical  map  must  accompany  the 
application.  The  sum  of  twenty  liras,  or  something  less 
than  $100,  must  be  paid  for  the  permission;  and  a  deposit 


6  NIPPUR. 

of  one  hundred  liras,  or  $440,  must  be  paid  on  the  issu- 
ance of  the  permission  as  a  guaranty  of  good  faith,  the 
same  to  be  forfeited  should  the  excavator  not  keep  both 
the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  law.  A  Turkish  commis- 
sioner accompanies  the  excavator, — the  salary  of  said 
commissioner  to  be  paid,  not  by  the  Turkish  Government, 
but  by  the  excavator, — who  shall  at  once  take  charge  of 
all  objects  found,  ultimately  delivering  the  same  to  the 
Ottoman  Imperial  Museum  at  Constantinople.  The  per- 
mission runs  for  two  years,  with  the  option  of  extension 
for  one  year  more.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  if  the  work 
be  not  completed,  a  new  firman  must  be  applied  for. 
This  law  is  almost  exactly  the  same  as  the  Greek  law, 
from  which  it  was  copied. 

It  was  felt  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  work  under 
this  law  in  the  Turkish  Empire.  Advices  from  the 
Wolfe  Expedition  and  from  friends  in  Turkey  were  of 
such  a  nature,  that  we  believed  that  everything  in  Con- 
stantinople was  managed  on  the  principle  of  corruption ; 
that  everything  could  be  had  for  money;  and  that  there 
was  no  real  care  for  the  antiquities,  but  only  a  desire 
through  the  law  to  find  an  opportunity  of  extracting 
money  from  foreigners.  Acting  on  this  belief,  we  deter- 
mined to  apply  for  a  special  permission.  Our  plan  was 
to  obtain  a  general  permission  to  dig  in  Babylonia,  ac- 
companied with  the  permission  to  export  some  part,  as 
large  as  might  be,  of  the  objects  found.  It  -was  hoped, 
that,  if  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  could  obtain  such 
a  permission,  it  might  be  possible  to  make  arrangements 
by  which  other  colleges,  universities,  and  learned  institu- 
tions could  co-operate  with  it,  undertaking  excavations  at 
various  points. 

Three  of  the  professors  at  Robert  College,  Constanti- 
nople— President  Washburn,  Professor  Long,  and  Pro- 
fessor van  Millingen — -were  asked  and  kindly  consented  to 
act  as  an  advisory  committee  to  the  expedition.     Almost 


ORGANIZING    THE  EXPEDITION.  7 

from  the  outset  they  advised  us  that  it  would  be  difficult, 
if  not  impossible,  to  obtain  permission  to  excavate  other 
than  according  to  the  terms  of  the  law.  The  legation 
at  Constantinople  was  of  a  different  opinion  ;  and  accord- 
ingly letters  were  addressed  to  the  Sultan,  through  the 
Turkish  legation  at  Washington  and  our  legation  in  Con- 
stantinople, asking  for  a  special  firman,  not  according 
to  the  terms  of  the  law.  President  Cleveland  showed 
much  interest  in  the  enterprise,  and  wrote  a  personal 
letter  to  Mr.  Straus,  our  minister  at  Constantinople, 
expressing  his  warm  approval  of  the  proposition  to  con- 
duct excavations  in  ancient  Babylonia,  and  his  hope  that 
everything  possible  would  be  done  to  insure  our  success. 
Application  was  also  made  to  the  State  Department  to 
direct  our  minister  to  apply  to  the  Sultan's  Government 
for  a  firman,  such  as  was  desired,  in  the  name  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Some  difficulty  arose  at  this  point.  This  had  its  origin 
in  Philadelphia  with  one  or  two  persons  who  felt  that 
they  should  have  been  consulted  before  the  scheme  of  an 
expedition  was  launched.  They  criticised  the  scheme 
proposed,  claiming  that  the  assyriologist  of  the  expedi- 
tion should  be  an  American,  and  that  the  staff  should 
include  an  architect  and  a  surveyor,  and  perhaps  also  a 
botanist  and  a  couple  of  officers  of  the  Engineer  Corps 
detailed  by  the  United  States  Government  for  that  pur- 
pose. This  criticism  was  taken  up  outside  of  Philadel- 
phia; and  opposition  was  made  to  action  by  the  State 
Department  on  our  behalf,  on  the  ground  that,  instead  of 
a  local  expedition,  an  effort  should  be  made  to  send  out  a 
national  expedition  on  a  larger  scale,  and  representing  all 
the  Assyrian  scholarship  of  the  country.  There  was  for 
a  time  a  tempest  in  a  teapot,  which  hampered  us  in  our 
efforts  to  raise  money,  as  well  as  in  our  efforts  to  secure 
assistance  from  the  State  Department  in  the  matter  of  a 
firman.     But  as  the  presidents  of  Harvard,  Yale,  Williams, 


8  X IP  FUR. 

Columbia,  Cornell,  Ann  Arbor,  etc.,  as  well  as  representa- 
tives of  the  Metropolitan  ]\Iuseum  of  New  York,  the 
American  Archxological  Institute,  and  other  similar  in- 
stitutions, hastened  to  forward  letters  to  the  State  De- 
partment, indicating  their  desire  that  application  for  a 
firman  should  be  made  in  behalf  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  as  requested  by  us,  this  latter  dif^culty 
was  speedily  removed,  and  instructions  forwarded  as 
requested. 

In  order  to  meet  the  dif^culties  which  had  arisen,  and 
at  the  same  time  take  advantage  of  the  extended  interest 
aroused  by  our  proposed  expedition,  I  endeavored  to 
enlarge  our  sphere  of  operations  by  arranging  a  plan  of 
co-operation  with  other  institutions.  Professor  Haupt  of 
Baltimore  had  worked  out  a  plan  of  an  expedition  to  ex- 
cavate Mughair,  and  negotiations  were  entered  into  for 
the  purpose  of  amalgamating  the  two  enterprises.  This 
proved  impracticable ;  but,  in  view  of  the  possibility  of 
his  organizing  an  expedition  later,  I  regarded  Mughair  as 
in  a  manner  pre-empted  by  him,  and  did  not  include  it  in 
the  list  of  places  applied  for  by  me  the  first  year. 

In  the  meantime  the  organization  of  the  Babylonian 
Exploration  Fund  was  completed  (March  17,  1888)  by  the 
election  of  William  Pepper,  ]\I,D.,  LL.D.,  then  provost 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  as  president;  Mr.  E. 
W.  Clark,  treasurer;  and  the  Reverend  Professor  Hil- 
precht,  Ph.D.,  secretary.  I  was  chosen  director.  The 
Executive  Committee  consisted,  besides  the  officers,  of 
Messrs.  C.  H.  Clark,  W.  W.  Frazier,  C.  C.  Harrison, 
Joseph  D.  Potts,  Richard  Wood,  Stuart  Wood,  Maxwell 
Somerville,  and  Talcott  Williams,  of  Philadelphia ;  Pro- 
fessor Langley  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute;  and  Pro- 
fessor Marquand  of  Princeton. 

One  unfortunate  result  of  the  controversy  which  had 
arisen  was  the  publicity  given  to  our  plans,  and  the  re- 
sulting exaggeration,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  of  the 


ORGANIZING    THE  EXPEDITION.  9 

magnitude  of  our  enterprise.  This  both  interfered  with 
our  negotiations  for  a  firman  at  Constantinople,  and  also 
resulted  in  the  adoption  of  a  far  more  costly  scheme  of 
work  than  the  one  originally  proposed. 

It  was  decided  to  take  an  assyriologist  from  America; 
and  at  the  suggestion  of  President  \V.  R.  Harper,  then  a 
professor  at  Yale,  his  brother,  Dr.  Robert  Francis  Har^ 
per,  a  tutor  in  the  same  university,  was  appointed  assyri- 
ologist without  salary,  but  with  all  expenses  paid.  At 
the  time  it  was  understood  that  Professor  Hilprecht's 
health  was  too  delicate  to  permit  him  to  serve  in  the  field. 
Later  the  physicians  decided  that  he  could  go;  and,  with 
the  consent  of  Dr.  Harper,  he  also  was  appointed  assyri- 
ologist to  the  expedition,  with  the  understanding  that 
neither  should  outrank  the  other,  but  that  Dr.  Harper's 
name,  as  coming  first  alphabetically,  should  precede  that 
of  Dr.  Hilprecht.  Dr.  Talcott  Williams  took  Dr.  Hil- 
precht's place  as  secretary,  and  from  that  time  forward 
proved  himself  one  of  the  wisest  and  best  friends  of  the 
expedition.  It  was  decided  to  add  an  engineer  or 
architect  to  the  expedition,  and,  if  possible,  a  botanist, 
or  a  representative  of  the  natural  sciences  in  some  form. 
All  this  increased  expenses,  and  obliged  me  to  revise  my 
estimates,  and  ask  for  $13,50x3,  instead  of  $7500,  for  the 
first  year's  work. 

Owing  to  the  publicity  given  to  our  expedition,  ap- 
plications for  membership  came  in  by  the  dozen  from  all 
parts  of  the  country.  Some  of  those  who  applied  were 
laborers,  who,  filled  with  a  spirit  of  adventure,  wished  to 
go  out  and  dig  holes  in  a  strange  land ;  some  were 
teachers  or  scholars;  some  were  physicians  and  scientists; 
quite  a  number  were  photographers;  and  some  were  ad- 
venturers merely.  We  finally  gave  up  the  scientist,  as 
that  would  have  increased  our  expenses  to  $15,000.  As 
architect,  surveyor,  and  engineer,  the  Committee  decided 
to  engage  Mr.  Perez  Hastings  Field  of  New  York,  then 


30  NIPPUR. 

at  the  Ecole  des  Beaux  Arts,  in  Paris.  As  in  the  case 
of  Drs.  Harper  and  Hilprecht,  Mr.  Field's  expenses  were 
to  be  paid,  but  he  was  to  receive  no  salary.  Mr.  John 
Dyneley  Prince,  then  just  graduating  from  Columbia, 
now  a  professor  in  the  University  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  was  accepted  as  an  attache  of  the  expedition,  pay- 
ing his  own  way,  and  acting  as  secretary  to  the  director. 
Mr.  John  Henry  Haynes  and  Mr.  Daniel  Z.  Noorian 
were  engaged  on  salaries,  as  originally  proposed,  the 
former  as  photographer  and  business  manager,  the  latter 
as  interpreter,  and,  after  excavations  should  commence, 
director  of  the  workmen. 

At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  John  Cadwalader,  Collector 
of  the  Port  of  Philadelphia,  I  renewed  my  formerly  un- 
successful effort  to  induce  the  Government  to  appoint  a 
consul  at  Baghdad.  The  import  from  Baghdad  of 
coarse  wools  for  carpet  manufacture  was  at  that  time, 
before  the  McKinley  tariff,  largely  on  the  increase. 
One  firm  in  New  York  had  even  established  an  office  at 
Busrah,  and  commenced  the  despatch  of  vessels  to  that 
port.  In  the  judgment  of  Mr.  Cadwalader,  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  consul  at  Baghdad,  or  at  the  least  a  vice- 
consul,  was  really  desirable  from  the  commercial  point  of 
view.  We  asked  for  the  appointment  of  Mr.  J.  H. 
Haynes  as  consul ;  and  through  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Cad- 
walader, assisted  by  Mr.  McClure  of  the  PhiladclpJiia 
Times,  the  office  was  created  by  the  President,  and  Mr. 
Haynes  appointed.  Through  an  unfortunate  accident, 
however,  no  appropriation  was  made  for  any  salary  for 
the  office.  At  the  time  when  it  was  decided  to  create 
the  office,  the  appropriation  bill  had  already  passed  the 
House;  but  Mr.  Belmont,  chairman  of  the  House  Com- 
mittee of  Ways  and  Means,  expressed  himself  ready  to 
accept  an  amendment  giving  a  salary  to  the  consul  at 
Baghdad,  if  such  an  amendment  were  introduced  in  the 
Senate.     It  was  arranged  that  such  an  amendment  should 


ORGANIZIXG    THE  EXPEDITION.  1 1 

pass  the  Senate;  but  unfortunately  the  senator  who  was 
to  introduce  the  amendment  went  to  the  Democratic 
Convention  at  St.  Louis,  and  forgot  all  about  it.  Accord- 
ingly we  had  a  consul  without  any  salary,  and  the  expe- 
dition was  obliged  to  support  the  dignity  of  the  office. 
On  the  whole,  the  disadv^antages  of  this  situation  proved 
in  the  end  to  outweigh  its  advantages. 

The  duties  of  the  organizer  of  an  expedition  are  mani- 
fold, and  his  information  should  be  very  varied;  if  not, 
he  must  supplement  it  by  much  study,  many  interviews, 
and  reams  of  correspondence.  I  was  necessarily  depend- 
ent upon  others  for  my  information.  I  received  some 
help  from  Lieutenant  IMelville,  the  Arctic  explorer;  and 
other  officers  of  both  the  Navy  and  the  War  Depart- 
ments gave  me  advice  regarding  equipment.  It  was 
decided  to  purchase  canned  provisions,  implements,  tents, 
arms,  saddles,  bridles,  etc.,  in  New  York.  The  provisions 
and  implements  were  shipped  direct  to  Baghdad ;  tents, 
saddles,  and  bridles  were  sent  to  Alexandretta;  and  the 
arms  we  took  with  us.  Messrs.  Oelrichs  &  Co.  kindly 
gave  me  personal  letters  to  their  correspondents  in  Bei- 
rout,  Aleppo,  and  Baghdad,  the  latter  of  whom,  ^Ir.  T. 
S.  Blockey,  became  the  trusted  friend  and  counsellor  of 
the  expedition  and  all  its  members. 

Although  we  had  commenced  negotiations  at  Constan- 
tinople in  regard  to  a  firman  the  preceding  autumn,  and 
made  formal  application  in  February,  nevertheless  at  the 
time  of  our  departure,  in  the  month  of  June,  it  was  still 
uncertain  whether  we  could  obtain  permission  to  excavate. 
There  was  nothing  for  us  to  do  but  proceed  on  an  un- 
certainty. Dr.  Harper,  IMr.  Prince,  and  I  sailed  on  the 
Fulda,  June  23,  1888.  Dr.  Hilprecht  and  Mr.  Xoorian 
were  to  sail  later,  meeting  me  at  Alexandretta  at  such 
time  as  I  might  direct.  Mr.  Field  was  in  Paris.  Mr. 
Haynes  was  presumably  at  Aintab  in  Turkey;  but  I  had 
written  him  to  meet   me  in   London  to  help  me  in  the 


12  NIPPUR. 

purchase  of  outfit,  and  to  procure  the  best  and  latest 
photographic  equipment.  It  was  July  ist  when  we 
landed  at  Southampton.  A  couple  of  bomb-like  patent 
contrivances  for  the  consumption  of  petroleum  as  fuel  in 
camp,  which  I  had  discovered  and  purchased  at  the  last 
moment,  and  brought  over  in  my  cabin  (they  did  not 
ultimately  prove  serviceable),  together  with  the  large 
amount  of  arms  and  ammunition  in  my  possession,  caused 
me  to  be  suspected  of  being  an  Irish-American  dynamiter, 
and  I  had  rather  an  amusing  time  at  the  custom-house. 

Mr.  Haynes  had  written  me  that  he  would  come  to 
London,  as  I  desired,  to  procure  photographic  outfit,  and 
assist  me  by  his  experience  in  the  purchase  of  the  thou- 
sand and  one  small  objects  necessary  to  any  such  expedi- 
tion. Later  he  changed  his  mind ;  but  the  letter  informing 
me  of  that  fact  miscarried,  and  I  had  no  intelligence  of 
his  motions.  I  telegraphed  to  him,  but  in  vain,  as  he 
had  gone  into  the  mountains;  and  it  was  not  until  August 
that  I  finally  ascertained  his  whereabouts.  Fortunately, 
Dr.  Long  of  Constantinople  arrived  in  London  about 
this  time,  and  rendered  me  much  assistance.  I  also  met 
all  the  assyriologists  and  Oriental  travellers  then  in  Lon- 
don, and  catechized  them  one  and  all.  I  spent  a  day 
with  Mr.  Wilfred  S.  Blunt  and  Lady  Anne  Blunt  at  Crab- 
bett  Park,  and  another  day  with  Professor  Sayce  at  Ox- 
ford. !Mr.  Pinches,  Mr.  Budge,  and  others  too  numerous 
to  mention,  gave  me  valuable  advice  and  assistance. 
Dr.  J.  Thacher  Clarke  was  especially  helpful.  He  most 
materially  assisted  I\Ir.  Field,  who  joined  me  in  London 
for  a  few  days,  and  he  also  undertook  the  purchase  of 
photographic  material,  being,  from  past  experience  with 
Haynes,  in  a  position  to  judge  approximately  what  the 
latter  needed.  Further,  he  placed  in  my  hands  a  written 
promise  to  come  to  me,  should  I  need  him,  without 
salary,  in  place  of  photographer  or  architect,  should 
either  fail  me  for  anv  cause. 


ORGAXIZIXG    THE  EXPEDITION.  1 3 

I  also  met  in  London  the  Hon.  O.  S.  Straus,  our  min- 
ister to  Constantinople,  then  on  his  way  home  on  leave. 
He  seemed  thoroughly  interested  in  our  enterprise,  and 
assured  me  that  it  had  receiv^ed  from  him  as  much  atten- 
tion as  a  matter  of  first-class  diplomatic  importance.  He 
was  hopeful  of  obtaining  for  us  from  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment favorable  terms,  but  did  not  wish  to  be  quoted  as 
making  definite  promises.  It  was  his  idea  that  we  might 
be  made  agents  of  the  Stamboul  Museum,  to  conduct 
excavations  in  Babylonia,  we  furnishing  the  money,  and 
receiving,  perhaps,  half  of  the  objects  found. 

But  my  most  memorable  interview  was  \\  ith  the  veteran 
explorer  of  Babylonia,  the  late  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson.  I 
had  hoped  that  it  might  be  possible  to  make  some 
arrangements  by  which  English,  German,  French,  and 
American  explorers  should  unite  in  endeavoring  to  secure 
from  the  Turkish  Government  a  modification  of  the  law 
governing  excavations  which  would  be  more  favorable  to 
explorers;  and  one  object  which  I  had  in  view,  in  seeing 
Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  was  to  obtain  his  influence  with  the 
British  Museum  toward  such  co-operation.  He  and  Mr. 
Bond,  the  chief  librarian,  seemed  favorably  disposed  to- 
ward my  plan,  and  at  their  suggestion  I  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  directors  of  the  British  Museum,  formally  propos- 
ing some  sort  of  co-operation  ;  but  the  directors  did  not 
look  favorably  upon  a  proposition  which  involved  ar- 
rangements with  other  countries,  believing  that  they 
could  do  better  for  themselves  independently,  and  sent 
me  a  courteous  note  to  that  effect. 

The  British  Museum  is  the  place  to  which  antiquities 
are  ordinarily  brought,  and  it  is  able  to  add  to  its  stock 
of  Babylonian  antiquities  year  by  year  through  purchase. 
This  encourages  the  Arabs  to  dig  here  and  there  in  Baby- 
lonia in  a  very  destructive  and  unscientific  way.  Such 
antiquities  as  are  brought  have  no  pedigree,  so  that  all 
that  can  be  learned  about  them  must   be  learned   from 


14  NIPPUR. 

themselves.  But  the  most  serious  objection  tothispoHcy 
of  encouraging  dealers  in  Babylonia  to  secure  and  send 
out  of  the  country  large  quantities  of  inscribed  objects 
is,  that,  by  the  method  of  digging  which  the  Arabs  pur- 
sue, more  is  destroyed  than  is  saved.  Such  a  plan  as  I 
proposed  in  the  most  general  way  to  the  authorities  of 
the  British  Museum  would  have  tended  to  put  a  stop  to 
this  illicit  excavation  and  export  of  antiquities  from  the 
Turkish  Empire.  The  British  Museum  was  at  that  time 
planning  to  send  Mr.  Budge  to  Babylonia  to  conduct  ex- 
cavations. I  had  received  some  intimation  of  this  inten- 
tion, and  suggested,  that,  even  if  it  were  not  possible  to 
arrange  for  any  general  co-operation,  it  was  desirable  that 
we  and  the  British  Museum  should  not  come  into  com- 
petition in  any  way,  and  therefore  offered  to  submit  to 
them  our  plans,  with  a  view  to  securing  co-operation 
between  us;    but  this,  also,  they  did  not  deem  advisable. 

To  conclude  the  narrative  of  my  attempts  to  secure 
some  sort  of  co-operation  between  the  countries  and  insti- 
tutions interested  in  Babylonian  exploration,  I  may  add 
that  an  influential  friend  in  Berlin,  to  whom  I  addressed 
myself  for  assistance  at  the  German  end,  assured  me  that 
German  feeling  toward  the  English  Liberal  Government, 
then  in  power,  was  so  bitter,  that  any  proposition  for 
co-operation  which  included  England  would  not  be 
considered  for  a  moment.  M.  Heuzey,  of  the  Louvre 
Museum,  to  whom  I  proposed  my  plan  in  Paris,  asking 
for  his  assistance,  if  not  in  a  general  plan  of  international 
work,  at  least  in  a  friendly  co-operation  between  the 
French  and  ourselves,  put  me  off  with  vague  but  polite 
phrases. 

As  it  seemed  impossible  to  make  any  arrangements  in 
London  which  would  tend  to  check  illicit  excavations  in 
Babylonia  and  Syria,  I  determined  to  do  what  I  could  to 
divert  antiquities  to  the  United  States,  and  if  possible  to 
secure  something  of  value  for  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 


Clay  Barrel  Cylinder  conlaiiiing  five  hundred  linei  uf  inscriinion  of  Nebu- 
chadrezzar ihe  Great.     Found  in  Babylon.      (The  inscription 
contains  an  account  of  the  buildings  of  Nebu- 
chadrezzar, including  canals. i 


ORGANIZIXG    THE  EXPEDITION.  1 5; 

vania  Museum.  I  accordingly  entered  into  negotiations 
with  all  the  antiquity  dealers  in  London.  There  was  at 
this  time  an  admirable  collection  in  the  hands  of  Joseph 
Shemtob.  After  long  negotiations,  conducted  chiefly 
through  Dr.  Long  and  Dr,  Harper,  we  succeeded  in  pur- 
chasing this  collection  for  the  sum  of  ;^350,  less  than  we 
should  have  paid  for  excavating  the  same.  This  money 
was  provided  by  the  friends  of  the  expedition  and  of  the 
university,  outside  of  the  sum  appropriated  for  use  in  the 
field.  This  is  the  collection  known  as  the  Shemtob  Col- 
lection, now  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  Museum 
at  Philadelphia.  From  the  colophon  of  a  Nabopolassar 
tablet  in  this  collection,  and  from  other  information  ob- 
tained later,  I  was  led  to  surmise  that  the  Arabs  had 
discovered  part  of  a  royal  library  at  Ibrahim  Khalil,  the 
ancient  Borsippa.  The  bulk  of  the  collection,  however, 
came  from  ancient  Babylon,  as  I  learned  later  on  the 
spot.  Among  the  gems  in  it,  which  especially  aroused 
the  enthusiasm  of  Mr.  Pinches  and  Professor  Sayce,  were 
a  vase  of  Xerxes  with  a  trilingual  inscription;  a  barrel 
cylinder  of  Nebuchadrezzar  IL  with  five  hundred  lines  of 
inscription,  the  largest  yet  discovered ;  a  curious,  in- 
scribed cone  of  Khammurabi  of^  Babylon ;  and  a  stone 
mortar  of  Burnaburiash. 

Later  I  purchased  a  small  bronze  Apis  bull,  regarding 
which  Professor  Sayce  wrote  to  me:  "  It  is  wonderfully 
like  one  which  I  got  at  Sakkarah ;  the  only  difference 
being  that  mine  is  rather  larger,  and  is  of  the  Pharaonic 
period,  whereas  yours  is  of  the  Roman  age.  But  the 
markings  on  each  are  the  same,  and  I  have  looked  in  vain 
through  the  collection  of  bronze  bulls  at  Boulaq  for  any 
with  such  perfect  markings  upon  them."  Curiously, 
this  bull  which  I  purchased  came  not  from  Egypt,  but 
from  the  neighborhood  of  Cssarea  in  Cappadocia;  and  in 
connection  Avith  this  purchase  I  first  made  acquaintance 
with  tablets  in  cuneiform  script  from  the  same  region,  of 


1 6  NIPPUR. 

which  I  later  purchased  quite  a  collection  in  Constanti- 
nople. I  had  already,  on  the  basis  of  a  passage  in  the 
book  of  Jeremiah  (xxxii.,  \o  ff.),  reached  the  conclusion 
that  the  Jews  wrote-  contracts  and  similar  documents  on 
clay  tablets,  like  the  Babylonians..  The  discovery  of 
clay  tablets  in  the  cuneiform  script  in  Cappadocia  led  me 
to  suppose  that  we  might  ultimately  find  the  use  of  clay 
tablets,  and  even  of  the  cuneiform  script,  to  have  been 
adopted  from  the  Babylonians  through  all  hither  Asia,  as 
the  discovery  of  the  Tel-el-Amarna  tablets  later  proved 
to  be  the  case. 

In  order  to  make  our  purchase  effective  as  speedily  as 
possible,  I  detailed  Dr.  Harper  to  work  on  the  Shemtob 
collection,  report  on  it,  catalogue  it,  prepare  it  for  exhi- 
bition, and  ship  it  to  Philadelphia,  which  he  did.  After 
my  departure  from  London,  another  collection,  the  so- 
called  Khabaza  Collection,  was  offered  to  Dr.  Harper  for 
sale.  He  reported  it  as  such  a  favorable  chance,  that  I 
commended  it  to  Mr.  E.  W.  Clark,  who  was  then  in 
London,  and  he  purchased  it  for  the  sum  of  iJ"200. 
These  two  collections  together  consisted  of  several  hun- 
dred pieces,  and  constituted  in  themselves  no  despicable 
collection  of  Babylonian  antiquities,  far  exceeding  in  value 
and  amount  all  the  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  antiquities 
then  in  the  United  States. 

July  25th,  having  received  no  word  from  Haynes, 
Prince  and  I  went  to  Paris  to  study  the  collections  of  the 
Louvre,  confer  with  French  archaeologists,  and  arrange 
with  Field  the  details  of  his  work  and  outfit.  I  met 
there,  among  others,  Messrs.  Perrot  and  Chipiez,  the 
well-known  authors  of  the  histories  of  art  in  various 
ancient  countries,  and  M.  Leon  Heuzey,  director  of  the 
Department  of  Oriental  Antiquities  in  the  Louvre  Mu- 
seum. M.  Heuzey  showed  us  all  the  Babylonian  objects 
in  his  charge,  not  merely  those  on  exhibition,  but  also 


ORGANIZING    THE  EXPEDITION.  17 

the  objects  not  yet  prepared  for  exhibition,  forgeries,  and 
so  forth,  and  gave  me  some  valuable  information. 

August  2d,  having  finally  heard  from  Haynes  to  the 
effect  that  he  would  meet  me  in  Constantinople,  I  re- 
turned to  London,  and  completed  the  purchase  of  the 
thousand  and  one  small  objects  needed  on  such  an  expe- 
dition. On  the  5th,  Prince  and  I  left  London  for  Berlin. 
Here  I  met  my  old  fellow-student,  Dr.  Bernhard  Moritz, 
and  his  comrades,  Dr.  Koldewey  and  Mr.  Ludwig  ]\Ieyer, 
who  had  returned  the  previous  year  from  Babylonia, 
where  they  had  conducted  excavations  at  Hibbah  and 
Zerghul.  Their  expedition  was  tentative,  like  our  own 
Wolfe  Expedition,  having  in  view  largely  the  deter- 
mination of  sites  to  be  excavated,  and  the  method  of 
pursuing  excavations  in  Babylonia.  After  its  return  a 
considerable  sum  was  given  to  the  museum  for  excava- 
tions in  northern  Syria,  which  led  to  the  abandonment 
of  the  idea  of  conducting  excavations  in  Babylonia. 
Under  these  circumstances,  at  the  suggestion  of  my  old 
teacher.  Professor  Eberhard  Schrader,  the  father  of  assy- 
riology,  and  on  application  of  Dr.  Steindorff,  who  was  in 
charge  of  the  Department  of  Oriental  Antiquities  in  the 
absence  of  Dr.  Erman,  the  authorities  of  the  museum 
kindly  directed  the  members  of  that  expedition  to  place 
at  my  disposal  any  information  which  could  assist  me  in 
my  work.  Accordingly,  Dr.  Moritz  communicated  to  me 
the  substance  of  the  report  of  his  expedition  to  the 
museum  authorities,  which  included  the  recommendation 
of  Nippur  as  the  most  promising  site  at  which  to  conduct 
excavations.  In  company  with  Professor  Schrader  and 
Dr.  Steindorff,  I  studied  the  Babylonian  collections  of  the 
museum ;  and  in  company  with  Dr.  Schrader,  I  had  two 
delightful  meetings  with  Professor  Kiepert,  the  geogra- 
pher, who  gave  me  some  unpublished  map  material. 

A   visit   to    Leipzig,    where    I    had    planned    to  meet 


1 8  A'IPPCR. 

another  of  my  old  masters  in  assyriolog}'.  Professor 
Friedrich  Delitzsch,  was  abandoned  on  account  of  sickness 
in  the  latter's  family;  and  on  the  8th  of  August  I  went  to 
Dresden  to  join  my  family,  and  await  news  from  Constan- 
tinople, on  the  advice  of  Mr.  Pendleton  King,  Charge 
d'Affaires  ad  interim,  and  Professor  van  IMillingen,  who 
were  managing  our  negotiations  there. 


CHAPTER  II. 

OBTAINING  AN  IRADE. 

Application  Refused — Journey  to  Constantinople — Interview  with  Grand 
Vizier — Kiamil  and  Munif  Pashas — Hamdy  Bey — A  Romantic  Career 
— Artist  Archaeologist  and  iMan  of  Affairs — Choice  of  Sites — A  New 
Application — Ministry  of  Public  Obstruction — Delay  at  the  Palace — 
The  Other  Members  of  the  Expedition — Wrecked  on  Samos — Work 
Assigned — Impatient  at  Delay — Unfortunate  Happenings — Mr.  Straus 
Dines  with  the  Sultan — The  Irade  Issued — A  Change  of  Terms — A 
Wage  Riot — Departure  from  Constantinople. 

SEPTEMBER  ist,  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  King, 
Charge  d'Affaires  at  Constantinople,  to  the  effect 
that  "  the  Council  of  State  has  decided  that  the  Govern- 
ment cannot  depart  from  the  existing  regulations  about 
excavations  on  behalf  of  the  Americans  applying,  as  other 
countries  would  make  the  same  request;  but  that  they 
(the  Americans)  may  be  granted  the  privilege  of  buying 
from  the  Ottoman  Government  such  antiquities  as  may 
be  discovered,  which  are  not  needed  for  the  Museum." 

I  left  Dresden  by  the  next  train  for  Constantinople,  the 
morning  of  September  3d,  and  was  joined  by  Prince  in 
Vienna  the  same  evening.  I  had  some  difficulty  with  my 
rifles  at  the  Austrian  frontier,  and  the  customs  inspectors 
wished  to  make  a  careful  examination  of  my  effects ;  but 
after  I  had  explained  to  them  that  I  had  been  sent  out 
from  America  to  command  an  exploring  expedition,  and 
showed  them  with  some  ceremony  my  passport  as  evi- 
dence, they  politely  passed  me  and  my  effects  free.    From 

19 


20  NIPT  UR. 

Vienna  we  took  the  Oriental  Express  to  Constantinople 
by  way  of  Rustchuk  and  Varna,  for  the  railroad  through 
to  Constantinople  had  not  yet  been  built.  It  was  in  this 
train  that  we  first  became  conscious  that  we  were  travel- 
hng  toward  Babel.  Our  fellow-travellers  were  two  Greeks, 
two  Italians,  a  half-dozen  Frenchmen,  one  Russian,  one 
Englishman,  and  a  few  nondescripts ;  and  at  Bucharest 
we  took  on  two  parties  of  Danes  and  Americans,  not  to 
speak  of  Roumanians,  Turks,  and  other  inhabitants  of 
the  Balkan  Peninsula.  It  is  curious  to  observe  the  grad- 
ual w'ay  in  which  you  pass  from  civilization  to  semi- 
barbarism,  and  from  Occident  to  Orient,  between  Vienna 
and  Constantinople.  Tuesday  morning  we  were  on  the 
wide  plains  of  Hungary.  Shortly  after  lunch  we  entered 
the  Carpathian  Mountains,  and  the  scenery  became 
grand,  and  the  people  poor  and  picturesque.  The  sec- 
tion of  Bulgaria  from  Rustchuk  to  Varna,  which  it  took 
us  almost  the  whole  of  the  next  day  to  cross,  was  very 
poor,  very  uninteresting,  and  very  hot.  There  were  no 
trees  and  few  villages;  but  here  and  there  they  showed  us 
battle-fields  and  graveyards,  relics  of  the  late  war.  A 
German  restaurant  in  the  middle  of  this  day's  journey 
was  like  an  oasis  in  a  desert.  About  evening  we  reached 
Varna,  which  seemed  to  consist  of  little  but  a  bay.  Here 
we  were  put  in  small  boats  and  carried  out  to  the  Aus- 
trian Lloyd  steamer  Aurora.  From  Rustchuk  on,  our 
train  had  been  uncomfortably  crowded,  but  the  condi- 
tions on  the  steamer  were  far  worse.  They  put  us  in  a 
room  with  two  Greeks  and  a  Frenchman,  and  it  was  only 
by  dint  of  \'ery  vigorous  protestations  that  I  secured  for 
Prince  a  bed  in  another  room  with  one  Russian  and  one 
Greek.  On  this  steamer,  for  the  first  time,  I  saw  the  prac- 
tice of  deck  passage,  so  universal  in  the  East.  With  the 
exception  of  the  small  upper  deck  at  the  stern  of  the 
steamer,  reserved  for  the  first-cabin  passengers,  every 
available    spot    seemed  to  be  occupied  by  campers-out, 


OBTAINING  AN  IRADE.  21 

principally  picturesque  Turkish  men  and  hideous  Turkish 
women. 

Very  early  the  next  morning  we  were  in  the  most 
beautiful  and  fascinating  of  all  straits,  the  Bosphorus, 
and  about  seven  o'clock  on  Thursday  morning,  the  6th 
of  September,  we  came  to  anchor  in  the  Golden  Horn. 
Before  the  steamer  had  ceased  to  move,  we  were  sur- 
rounded by  a  host  of  small  boats,  and  invaded  by  porters 
and  hotel  runners  speaking  every  conceivable  language 
horribly.  These  men  kidnapped  passengers  and  baggage 
in  the  most  unscrupulous  manner.  We  were  rescued 
from  their  clutches  by  the  appearance  on  the  scene  of 
the  cawass  of  our  legation,  resplendent  in  gold  embroid- 
ery, and  armed  with  a  sabre  and  some  immense  old- 
fashioned  horse  pistols.  Prince,  who  could  speak  all 
sorts  of  out-of-the-way  languages,  like  Turkish,  Gypsy, 
Bohemian,  and  Danish,  was  able  to  enter  into  communica- 
tion with  him,  and  inform  him  that  we  were  the  persons 
he  had  been  sent  to  bring  on  shore.  Shortly  after,  Profes- 
sor van  Millingen  arrived,  and  we  disembarked.  At  the 
custom-house  I  observed,  to  my  horror,  that  the  porters 
in  transporting  our  goods  had  driven  the  butt-end  of  one 
of  my  rifles  through  the  ingenious  wrappings  which  dis- 
guised its  identity.  Prince  was  carrying  his  in  his  arms, 
wrapped  up  in  both  our  overcoats,  much  as  one  carries  a 
baby.  Now,  rifles,  revolvers,  and  cartridges  are  among 
the  contraband  articles  which  it  is  forbidden  to  import 
into  Turkey,  although  they  are  openly  exposed  for  sale 
in  the  most  public  streets  of  Constantinople.  Neverthe- 
less, in  spite  of  the  fact  that  one  of  the  rifles  had  so 
unfortunately  obtruded  its  presence  on  the  observation 
of  the  officials,  our  three  rifles,  one  shot-gun,  and  half  a 
dozen  revolvers,  with  their  cartridges,  and  the  like,  passed 
the  custom-house  in  safety  after  some  disputation  about 
the  amount  of  baksheesh,  which  was  at  length  fixed  at 
one  mejidie,  or  eighty  cents. 


22  NIPPUR. 

President  Washburn  joined  us  at  our  hotel,  the  Hotel 
de  Byzance  in  Pera,  after  breakfast;  and  at  II.30  we 
all  went  together  to  our  legation  to  confer  with  Mr. 
Pendleton  King,  Charge  d'Affaires,  and  with  Mr.  A.  A. 
Gargiulo,  the  wise  and  wily  Dragoman.  We  certainly 
lost  no  time  that  day;  for  at  two  o'clock  Mr.  King,  Mr. 
Gargiulo,  Professor  van  Millingen,  and  I  went  to  call  on 
the  Grand  Vizier,  Kiamil  Pasha.  He  was  cautious,  but 
friendly,  at  least  in  manner.  We  conversed  in  English, 
drank  Turkish  coffee,  and  smoked  cigarettes.  The  Grand 
Vizier  said  substantially  what  had  been  said  in  Mr. 
King's  letter.  I  proposed  to  him  the  plan  suggested  by 
Mr.  Straus,  namely,  that  we  might  be  made  agents  of  the 
Imperial  Ottoman  Museum;  to  Avhich  he  replied  that  it 
could  not  be  done,  because  the  same  thing  had  been  re- 
fused to  others.  In  answer  to  my  objection  that  it  would 
not  do,  on  account  of  the  condition  of  the  country,  for 
us  to  be  limited  to  one  place,  as  the  law  required,  he  sug- 
gested that  we  might  make  as  many  applications  as  we 
pleased,  under  the  names  of  the  different  members  of  the 
expedition.  I  tried  to  point  out  the  necessity  we  were 
under  to  bring  back  with  us  some  tangible  results;  and  he 
said,  that,  when  we  had  once  found  the  antiquities,  there 
would  be  no  difficulty  in  buying  them,  as  the  museum 
did  not  really  want  them.  He  also  said  that  there  were 
objects  in  the  museum  which  the  authorities  would  be 
glad  to  sell. 

This  Grand  Vizier,  Kiamil  Pasha,  since  deposed,  was 
reputed  to  be  a  Jew  by  race,  born  in  Cyprus.  He  was 
small  and  somewhat  wizened,  although  apparently  not 
over  sixty  years  of  age.  His  face  was  one  of  great 
shrewdness  and  deep  cunning,  as  well  as  marked  ability. 
He  had  a  slight  nervous  affection  of  the  facial  muscles, 
which  increased  the  almost  morose  solemnity  of  his  ap- 
pearance. He  wore,  like  all  the  pashas  I  saw,  a  collar- 
less  black  coat,   with  high-cut  vest,   and  trousers  of  the 


OBTAINING  AN  IRADE.  23 

^ame,  thus  presenting  much  the  appearance  of  a  clergy- 
man, excepting  for  the  fez.  He  spoke  Enghsh  excel- 
lently. 

From  the  Sublime  Porte,  Mr.  Gargiulo,  Professor  van 
Millingen,  and  I  went,  as  the  Grand  Vizier  had  advised 
us  to  do,  to  see  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  Munif 
Pasha.  This  man  had  been  at  an  earlier  date  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Liberal  or  Young  Turkey  movement.  He 
had  studied  a  little  in  Germany,  and  spoke  French  and 
German,  both  imperfectly,  and  a  few  words  of  English. 
In  order  to  maintain  his  position  under  the  present  Sul- 
tan, he  was  forced  to  desert  his  old  friends,  become  out- 
wardly at  least  a  pious  Mussulman,  and  affect  illiberalism. 
He  did  not  receive  us  at  first  in  a  friendly  manner.  He 
denied  that  there  were  objects  to  be  sold  at  the  museum, 
and  so  interpreted  the  vote  of  the  Council  of  State  as  to 
render  exportation  impossible.  I  explained  to  him  how 
impracticable  it  would  be  to  comply  with  that  require- 
ment of  the  law  according  to  which  would-be  excavators 
must  file  a  topographical  plan  of  the  place  to  be  ex- 
cavated with  their  application,  since  the  only  way  to 
obtain  such  a  plan  of  any  place  in  Babylonia  was  to  go 
out  there  and  make  one.  I  spoke  to  him  also  about  the 
undesirability  of  being  confined  to  one  place  in  an  almost 
unknown  region  like  Mesopotamia,  and  mentioned  what 
the  Grand  Vizier  had  said.  As  he  did  not  take  this 
kindly,  I  insisted  upon  our  right,  under  the  terms  of  the 
law,  to  excavate  at  several  places,  not  simultaneously  but 
successively.  A  long  discussion  ensued.  Finally  Gar- 
giulo went  over  and  whispered  in  his  ear,  after  which  he 
became  somewhat  more  friendly,  and  said  that  he  would 
talk  with  the  director  of  the  museum,  and  see  me  again 
the  following  Tuesday. 

The  next  day,  Friday,  Mr.  Prince,  Professor  van  Mil- 
lingen, and  I  went  to  call  on  Hamdy  Bey,  director  of  the 
Imperial  Museum,  at  his  house  at  Courouchesme,  on  the 


24 


AVFrrA\ 


Bosphorus.  On  account  of  our  attempt  to  obtain  special 
privileges,  he  had  been  hostile  to  us,  and  had  not  wished 
to  see  me ;  but  when  he  was  told  that  we  were  anxious 
to  ascertain  whether  it  were  not  possible  to  work  under 
the  law,  he  expressed  himself  as  quite  willing  to  meet 
me.  I  have  aheady  described  part  of  our  earher  negotia- 
tions for  a  firman,  but  have  not  referred  to  our  direct 
negotiations  with  Hamdy  Bey.  Some  time  in  the  latter 
part  of  1886,  or  the  earher  part  of  1887,  he  told  one  of 
the  professors  at  Robert  College  that  he  had  a  most  in- 
teresting site  in  northern  Syria,  presumably  Hittite, 
which   he   would    like   to    see   explored.      The   cost    of 


TURKISH   HOUSES   AT    COUROUCHESME   ON   THE   BOSPHORUS. 
HOUSE    OF    HAMDY    BEY. 


excavation  he  estimated  at  $4000.  He  proposed  that 
the  Americans  should  apply  for  a  firman  to  excavate  this 
site.  This  proposition  was  communicated  to  me  in  the 
summer  or  autumn  of  1887.  I  sent  word  to  him  through 
Professor  van  Millingen  that  we  would  gladly  furnish  the 
funds,  and  excavate  this  site  for  him,  if  he  would  obtain 
for  us  the  sort  of  permission  to  excavate  in  Babylonia 
which  we  wished.  He  replied  that  this  site — it  was 
Zenjirli — had  been  already  taken  by  the  Germans,  but 
that  he  had  another  of  the  same  character  which  we 
might  have.     Whether  we  excavated  in   Irak   or  Syria, 


OBTAINING  AN  IRAD£..  25 

however,   we  could  have  no    permission    outside   of    the 
terms  of  the  law. 

Our  interview  did  not  begin  well.  Hamdy  told  me, 
when  I  ventured  to  criticise  some  details  of  the  law,  that 
he  had  made  the  law,  and  that  it  was  he  who  adminis- 
tered it.  He  denied  that  there  was  anything  to  be  sold 
in  the  museum,  when  told  what  the  Grand  Vizier  had 
said  on  that  subject,  and  spoke  rather  disrespectfully  of 
his  Highness's  knowledge  of  antiquities.  He  said,  further- 
more, that  the  museum  would  not  sell  to  us  part  of  the 
objects  found,  although  it  might  give  them ;  inscribed 
objects,  however,  they  could  not  afford  to  let  go.  He 
agreed  that  we  might  excavate  in  three  places  succes- 
sively, but  not  simultaneously,  and  that  no  topographical 
plans  should  be  presented  until  we  had  reached  the  spot, 
and  also  that  the  caution  money  to  be  deposited  should 
be  made  a  nominal  sum.  He  detained  Professor  van 
Millingen  for  a  moment  on  the  stairs,  as  we  were  leaving, 
to  tell  him  that  we  need  not  fear  about  permission  to 
export  objects  when  found,  or  a  part  of  them,  and  that 
he  would  deal  liberally  with  us  if  we  would  proceed 
according  to  the  law,  and  act  fairly  and  honorably.  It 
was  arranged  that  we  should  visit  the  museum  under  the 
guidance  of  Hamdy  Bey  on  Monday,  the  loth,  and  that 
I  should  then  submit  for  his  approval  the  general  plan  of 
application,  or  a  rough  copy  of  the  same.  The  conversa- 
tion was  conducted  throughout  in  French.  Hamdy  Bey 
was  affable  and  even  charming  in  his  manners.  He 
showed  us  photographs  of  his  famous  Sidon  "  finds," 
and  told  us  much  about  them  over  our  coffee  and 
cigarettes. 

O.  Hamdy  Bey  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  men  in 
the  Turkish  Empire.  He  is  by  descent  on  his  father's 
side  a  Greek.  His  grandparents  were  slain  in  the  terrible 
massacre  of  Scio,  in  1822;  and  his  father,  then  a  child, 
was  sold  as  a  slave  at  Constantinople.    There  he  won  the 


26  NIPPUR. 

favor  of  a  well-to-do  Turk  of  liberal  views,  was  adopted 
by  him,  and  educated  in  the  most  advanced  manner, 
chiefly  in  France.  lie  was  of  course  educated  as  a 
Mohammedan,  and  married  a  Turkish  wife.  In  due 
course  he  rose  to  be  Grand  Vizier  under  the  name  of 
Edhem  Pasha,  and  was  still  in  his  old  age  a  member  of 
the  Council  of  State,  and  a  man  of  great  influence  with 
the  Sultan.  Hamdy  was  designated  by  his  father  for  the 
army.  In  those  days  French  influence  was  dominant  in 
the  Orient,  and  French  military  prestige  was  at  its  height. 
Accordingly,  Hamdy,  after  two  years  in  a  French  board- 
ing-school, was  entered  as  a  pupil  at  the  Military 
Academy  at  St.  Cyr.  But,  his  father  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding,  it  soon  became  clear  to  himself  that  he 
was  not  intended  for  a  soldier,  and  at  the  end  of  a  year 
he  begged  to  be  permitted  to  abandon  the  military  for  a 
■civil  career.  His  request  was  granted,  and  he  was  sent 
to  Paris  to  study  law.  Here  he  became  infatuated  with 
art,  and  privately  enrolled  himself  at  the  Ecole  des  Beaux 
Arts  as  a  student  of  painting.  As  examinations  in  the 
Law  School  drew  near,  he  devoted  himself  assiduously  for 
a  brief  period  to  cramming  law.  Examinations  success- 
fully tided  over,  he  returned  to  his  art.  In  this  way  he 
contrived  to  devote  three  quarters  of  the  year  to  art,  and 
one  quarter  to  law.  So  his  four  years  of  study  in  Paris 
passed  by.  He  graduated  from  the  Law  School,  and 
exhibited  in  the  Ecole  des  Beaux  Arts.  His  father 
wished  him  to  go  in  for  a  doctorate;  but,  this  proving 
uncongenial,  he  was  permitted  to  return  to  Constan- 
tinople to  begin  his  career  as  a  politician,  for  which  he 
had  almost  as  little  taste  as  for  military  life.  Before  long 
he  published  an  article  on  the  inconsistencies  of  judicial 
procedure  in  the  Turkish  Empire,  pointing  out  that  in 
one  set  of  courts  Christians  might  act  as  judges,  while  in 
another  they  could  not  even  be  accepted  as  witnesses. 
This  article  did  not  please  Ali  Pasha,  then  Grand  Vizier, 


■ 

^K^'     '  ^^^^^^H 

^n 

^^^^^^^^^^^^Ibk>  '''^ 

\ 

1 

/ 

O.    IIAMDV  BFV. 
Director  of  the  Impeiial  Ottoman  Museum. 


OBTAIXIXG  AX  IRA  BE. 


27 


Avho  was  an  enemy  of  his  father;  and  Hamdy  was  forth- 
with appointed  to  a  minor  poHtical  post  at  Baghdad, — a 
poHte  method  of  banishment. 

The  Governor-General  of  the  province  of  Baghdad  was 
the  famous  and  energetic  Midhat  Pasha.  He  was  attempt- 
ing to  introduce  all  sorts  of  European  reforms,  running 
steamers  on  the  Euphrates,  digging  canals,  and  waging 
wars  to  reduce  the  turbulent  and  savage  Arab  tribes  to 
subjection.  With  him  Hamdy  at  once  found  favor,  and 
he  was  made  director  of  the  foreign  affairs  of  the  vilayet. 
In  Midhat's  suite,  dressed  and  mounted  as  an  Arab,  in 
the  corps  of  Arab  irregulars  created  by  him,  he  took  part 
in  the  war  with  Hajji  Tarfa  and  the  Affech  tribes  in  the 
Niffer  marshes,  which  resulted  from  the  attempt  to  levy 
taxes  and  to  enforce  military  conscription  in  the  dominion 
of  that  powerful  chief.  He  had  therefore  served  as  a 
soldier  in  the  very  regions  in  which  I  was  destined  ta 
■excavate.  Under  Midhat  Pasha,  Hamdy  found  oppor- 
tunity also  for  the  more  congenial  labors  of  art  and  archae- 
ology, conducting  excavations  in  the  mound  of  Nebbi 
Yunus,  on  the  site  of  ancient  Nineveh,  and  sketching  and 
painting  the  romantic  and  artistic  scenes  and  peoples  of 
the  land  of  Haroun-er-Rashid.  At  the  end  of  two  years 
or  thereabouts,  Ali  Pasha  removed  him  from  these  too 
favorable  environments  by  appointing  him  consul  at  Bom- 
bay. On  the  way  thither,  in  the  pestilential  marshes  of 
lower  Irak,  he  fell  ill  with  fever.  This  afforded  him  an 
opportunity,  which  he  eagerly  embraced,  to  return  to  the 
•capital.  He  was  at  once  appointed  secretar\^  of  legation 
at  St.  Petersburg.  He  had  been  banished  to  a  Avarm 
climate,  and  it  had  not  killed  him:  now  they  offered  him 
a  cold  climate  as  his  exile.  Tired  of  this  species  of  hon- 
orable banishment,  he  begged  leave  to  withdraw  into 
private  life.  This  being  granted,  he  devoted  himself 
wholly  to  his  art,  painting,  among  other  things,  a  large 
battle-piece  representing  a  scene  in  the  picturesque  war 


28  NIPPUR. 

with  the  Affech  Arabs,  in  which  he  had  just  taken  part. 
One  day,  returning  from  a  walk,  he  found  his  ateher  in 
possession  of  emissaries  from  the  palace,  who  had  already 
impounded  his  great  battle  scene,  and  were  waiting  to 
carry  him  to  the  royal  presence.  No  Turk  receives  such 
a  summons  without  trepidation,  for  the  ways  of  an  East- 
ern potentate  are  still  the  ways  of  Ahasuerus.  A  sum- 
mons to  his  presence  may  portend  death  or  banishment, 
or  it  may  mean  glory  and  honor.  He  who  is  thus  sum- 
moned to  the  royal  presence  may  never  reappear,  or  he 
may  return  a  friend  of  the  king.  Hamdy's  summons 
proved  to  be  for  honor.  Abd-ul-Aziz  was  enchanted  with 
the  painting,  presented  him  with  a  diamond  snuff-box, 
and  made  him  introducer  of  ambassadors. 

Thus  restored  to  official  life,  he  was  soon  in  danger  of 
being  lost  to  art  forever;  for  ofifiices  and  duties  multiplied 
upon  him,  especially  after  the  accession  of  INIidhat  Pasha 
to  power.  In  consequence  of  the  Bulgarian  massacres 
and  the  appointment  of  the  English  commission  of  inquiry 
in  1876,  he  was  sent  out  to  prepare  from  the  Turkish 
standpoint  a  counter-report  of  the  Bulgarian  revolt  and 
the  method  of  its  suppression.  At  one  time  he  was  Pre- 
fect of  Pera,  the  "  Frank  "  quarter  of  Constantinople. 
During  the  Russian  war  he  saw  active  service  in  the  armies 
of  his  country;  but  his  political  career  Avas  unfavorably 
affected  by  the  fall  and  disgrace  of  Midhat.  He  himself 
came  under  suspicion,  and  was  obliged  to  retire  into  pri- 
vate life  once  more,  where  he  lived  for  a  period  under 
police  surveillance,  devoting  himself  entirely  to  his  art. 
In  1 88 1  he  was  again  restored  to  favor,  and  appointed 
director  of  the  Imperial  Museum  at  Stamboul,  a  position 
he  has  held  ever  since. 

Being  an  artist  rather  than  an  archaeologist,  Hamdy  at 
first  wished  to  decline  the  appointment  of  director  of  the 
museum.  But  he  was  manifestly  better  equipped  for  the 
post  than  any  man  in  the  empire,  and  the  Sultan  laid  his 


OBTAINIXG  AX  IRADE. 


29 


commands  upon  him,  permitting  him,  howev^er,  to  make 
the  following  conditions:  that  the  law  respecting  excava- 
tions should  be  changed,  and  a  small  special  budget 
assigned  to  the  museum.  These  conditions  granted,  he 
promised  at  the  end  of  ten  years  to  give  his  Majesty  a 
museum  which,  however  small,  should  be  deserving  of 
the  name.  He  further  obtained  permission  to  establish  a 
school  of  fine  arts.  This  was  housed  temporarily  in  a 
building  belonging  to  the  old  palace,  close  to  Chinili  Kiosk. 
The  first  public  exhibition  of  the  pupils  of  this  school  took 
place  in  1888.     The  school  is  modelled  after  the  Ecole  des 


WHITE-TURBANED    SOFTAS. 


Beaux  Arts  of  Paris,  with  its  three  departments  of  archi- 
tecture, sculpture,  and  painting;  and,  corresponding  to 
the  Grand  Prix  de  Rome,  Hamdy  proposed  to  establish  a 
Grand  Prix  de  I'Europe,  to  enable  the  successful  competi- 
tors to  continue  their  studies  at  the  great  art  centres  of  the 
w^orld.  There  is  a  staff  of  four  professors,  with  Hamdy 
Bey  as  responsible  director,  the  responsibilities  of  that  post 
being  financially  similar  to  those  of  the  presidents  of  some 
institutions  of  learning  in  this  country.  The  students  num- 
ber somewhat  over  a  hundred.     Of  these,  the  greater  part 


30  AUFPCR. 

are  Greek  and  Armenian  subjects  of  the  Porte,  but  there 
are  also  Turks  among  them,  even  including  white- 
turbaned  softas  from  the  mosques,  so  far  has  barbarian 
prejudice  already  yielded  to  civilization  in  the  capital  of 
the  Ottoman  Empire. 

But  Hamdy  is  even  better  known  to  the  world  by  his 
archaeological  discoveries  than  by  his  artistic  achieve- 
ments, and  some  of  these  discoveries  are  of  so  remarkable 
a  character  that  they  are  likely  to  exert  a  greater  influence 
on  artistic  development  than  his  more  direct  attempts  in 
that  direction.  His  first  work  as  an  excavator  was,  as 
already  stated,  at  Nebbi  Yunus,  the  site  of  Nineveh, 
while  he  was  attached  to  ^lidhat  Pasha's  Government  in 
Baghdad.  In  1883,  in  company  with  Osgan  Effendi,  he 
explored  the  remarkable  tumulus  of  Antiochus  of  Com- 
magene,  on  the  snowy  summit  of  the  Xemroud  Dagh,  or 
Nimrod  Mountain,  one  of  the  peaks  of  the  Taurus;  but 
it  was  the  discovery  of  the  wonderful  sarcophagi  at  Sidoii 
in  the  spring  of  1887  that  achieved  him  fame  as  an 
explorer. 

Hamdy  is  not  only  an  artist  and  archaeologist,  he  is 
also  a  man  of  affairs,  and  as  such  was  appointed  some 
years  since  a  member  of  the  mixed  commission  of  the 
public  debt,  which  has  done  so  much  to  restore  Turkish 
finances  to  approximate  order  and  solvency.  His  is  a 
career  impossible  in  the  modern  West,  but  excellently 
illustrative  of  the  possibilities  and  vicissitudes  of  the 
Orient. 

I  have  described  these  men  and  their  careers  at  some 
length,  because  they  were  the  three  officials  with  whom 
we  were  to  conduct  our  negotiations,  and  on  whom 
depended  the  success  or  failure  of  our  work. 

The  unexpected  turn  which  matters  had  now  taken 
compelled  me  to  make  choice  at  once  of  three  sites  to 
be  named  in  our  application  for  permission  to  excavate. 
Ur  (Mughair)  I  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  take,  for  reasons 


OBTAIXIXG  AX  IRADE.  3 1 

already  stated.  Eridu  (Abu  Shahrein)  was  out  of  the 
question,  because  of  the  hostihty  of  the  Arabs  in  that 
region.  Babylon,  which  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  had  urged 
upon  me,  seemed  too  large  and  confusing.  Moreover,  it 
had  served  so  long  as.  a  brick  quarry,  and  also  as  a  treas- 
ure mound  for  unauthorized  diggers,  that  I  did  not  know 
to  what  extent  it  had  been  looted  already.  I  wanted  a 
fresh  site,  and  one  which  had  played  a  role  in  the  \-ery 
earliest  period  of  Babylonian  history.  Nippur  (Niffer  or 
Nufar)  seemed  to  satisfy  these  conditions  best.  It  was. 
one  of  the  sites  recommended  by  the  Wolfe  Expedition, 
and  was  the  site  selected  for  excavation  by  the  Germans. 
Haynes,  who  arrived  at  Constantinople  on  Saturday  the 
8th,  confirmed  the  German  recommendation,  reporting 
it,  according  to  his  judgment,  the  most  promising  site  for 
excavation  of  all  those  visited  by  the  Wolfe  Expedition, 
with  water  and  workmen  available,  readily  accessible  for 
purposes  of  transport,  and  reasonably  safe.  For  the 
second  place  I  chose  Borsippa  (Birs  Nimroud),  on 
the  ground  of  the  discoveries  recently  made  there  by 
the  Arabs,  as  related  in  the  last  chapter.  For  the  third 
place,  after  some  hesitation,  I  chose  Anbar,  out  of  loy- 
alty to  the  Wolfe  Expedition.  I  had  already  reached  the 
conclusion  that  Dr.  Ward's  identification  of  this  ruin 
with  ancient  Sippara  was  an  error,  but,  in  view  of  his 
account  of  the  large  size  and  promising  appearance  of  the 
mound,  I  thought  it  well  to  hold  in  our  hands  the  possi- 
bility of  exploring  it. 

Monday,  the  loth,  accompanied  by  Professor  van  ]\Iil- 
lingen  and  Prince,  I  had  my  second  interview  with 
Hamdy  Bey  at  the  museum.  He  accepted  the  three 
sites  named,  and  approved  my  form  of  application,  which 
contained  a  clause  dispensing  with  the  topographical  plan 
until  the  excavations  had  begun. 

The  following  day  Gargiulo  visited  ]\Iunif  Pasha.  He 
was  very  affable.    He  had  seen  Hamdy,  and  agreed  that  we 


32  NIPPUR. 

might  excavate  at  three  places  successively,  but  not  sim- 
ultaneously, also  that  the  topographical  plan  should  be 
dispensed  with  until  we  reached  the  site  to  be  excavated, 
and  that  the  cautionary  deposit  should  be  nominal.  In 
the  matter  of  the  acquisition  and  exportation  of  the 
objects  found,  he  was  ready  to  make  the  same  vague 
promises  as  Hamdy  Bey,  but  would  not  consent  that 
anything  should  be  stated  in  the  permission  itself.  I 
presented  to  him  the  formal  ajaplication  for  permission  to 
dig  at  Anbar,  Birs  Nimroud,  and  Niffer,  and  asked  that 
matters  might  be  expedited.  He  promised  to  do  what 
he  could,  and  said  that  the  first  step  was  to  inquire  of  the 
local  authorities  whether  there  were  any  objections  to 
conducting  excavations  on  the  sites  named  in  the  appli- 
cation. I  protested  against  this  as  unnecessary,  seeing 
that  these  sites  were  uninhabited,  and  in  a  region  sub- 
stantially a  desert,  and  without  roads,  forts,  houses,  or 
canals,  as  mentioned  in  the  law.  He  would  not,  how- 
ever, remit  these  forms,  and  added  that,  should  he  do  so, 
the  Wali  of  Baghdad,  feeling  himself  slighted,  would  be 
sure  to  throw  every  obstacle  in  our  way.  The  most  that 
I  could  obtain  was  an  agreement  to  inquire  by  telegraph, 
and  to  send  the  telegram  that  same  day.  An  answer 
might,  he  thought,  be  expected  in  from  eight  to  ten 
days.  Within  that  time  no  answer  came.  We  visited 
Munif  frequently,  and  also  went  often  to  Hamdy's.  At 
the  end  of  a  little  more  than  two  weeks  we  induced  Munif 
to  telegraph  again,  but  it  was  more  than  three  weeks  after 
the  despatch  of  the  first  telegram  before  an  answer  was 
received.  This  answer  objected  to  Anbar,  but  raised  no 
objection  to  the  other  two  places. 

It  did  not  seem  to  me  desirable  to  contest  the  Wall's 
objection  to  Anbar,  because  of  the  great  delay  likely  to 
be  occasioned  thereby.  I  saw  Hamdy  at  once,  and  in 
order  to  expedite  matters  arranged  to  go  with  him  to  the 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction  the  following  day,  and  come 


OBTAIXIXG  AX  TRADE.  33 

to  a  final  agreement.  Accordingly,  Thursday,  October 
4th,  Gargiulo  and  I  called  for  Hamdy  Bey  at  the  museum, 
and  went  with  him  to  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction, 
or  obstruction,  as  we  called  it  among  ourselves.  After  a 
private  interview  between  Munif  and  Hamdy,  they  ad- 
mitted us,  and  announced  that  they  had  been  so  much 
pleased  by  my  course  that  they  were  ready  to  show  me 
special  favors,  and  that  accordingly  we  would  be  per- 
mitted to  retain  and  export  such  objects  as  were  not 
required  for  the  museum.  These  objects  were  to  be 
given,  not  sold,  to  us, — a  point  of  generosity  on  which 
much  stress  was  laid, — but  this  was  not  to  be  put  in  writ- 
ing. The  minister  had  telegraphed  to  stop  at  Busrah  the 
commissioner  who  had  accompanied  De  Sarzec  in  his 
excavations  the  preceding  winter,  and  who  had  also  been 
w4th  Humann  at  Zenjirli.  He  did  this  in  order  to  save 
us  travelling  expenses,  and  to  give  us  a  man  at  a  low 
salary.  We  were  to  pay  him  twenty  Turkish  liras  a 
month,  and  were  ourselves  to  be  the  paymasters.  The 
deposit  was  to  be  merely  a  nominal  one. 

Now  ensued  a  considerable  period  of  delay.  First  the 
paper  had  to  be  drawn  up  by  the  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction  and  sent  to  the  Porte;  that  is,  the  Grand 
Vizier.  Then  it  had  to  pass  the  Council  of  State.  After 
this  it  had  to  be  reshaped  and  sent  to  the  Council  of 
Ministers,  from  which  again  it  must  pass  up  to  the  Sultan 
for  his  signature.  In  spite  of  close  following,  it  was 
about  October  22d  before  it  passed  the  Council  of  ]\Iinis- 
ters.  October  25th,  Gargiulo  and  I  had  an  interview 
with  the  Grand  Vizier.  The  mazbata  had  not  yet  gone 
up  for  the  Sultan's  signature  (I  think  his  Highness  had 
forgotten  all  about  it) :  so  he  called  in  a  secretary,  and 
gave  him  in  my  presence  the  necessary  instructions, 
which  were  favorable  in  allowing  exportation  of  objects 
found.  He  promised  that  it  should  go  up  to  the  Palace 
on  Sunday  the  28th,  and  said  that  we  might  expect  the 


34  NIPPUR. 

irade  on  Tuesday,  October  30th,  probably,  or  on  Thurs- 
day, November  ist,  at  latest.  So  I  went  over  to  the 
Ministry  of  Public  Instruction,  and  drank  coffee  and 
smoked  a  cigarette  with  Munif  Pasha  while  we  arranged 
the  details  of  deposits  and  fees.  At  the  same  time  he 
ordered  the  draft  of  the  permit  to  be  prepared,  against 
the  arrival  of  the  expected  order  from  the  Palace. 

I  was  never  able  to  ascertain  the  inner  history  of  the 
relations  of  the  different  persons  concerned  to  this  permit. 
Hamdy  Bey  from  the  outset  insisted  that  the  form  of  the 
application  and  permission  must  be  strictly  according  to 
the  law,  and  Munif  maintained  the  same  attitude.  For 
any  relaxation  of  the  conditions,  we  must  depend  on  their 
spoken  word  only.  The  Grand  Vizier,  on  the  other 
hand,  encouraged  and  even  urged  us  from  the  outset  to 
make  application  not  according  to  the  terms  of  the  law, 
and  promised  to  secure  special  conditions.  Whether  he 
meant  to  do  so  and  could  not,  I  do  not  know.  At  all 
events,  he  did  not  do  so,  and  his  professedly  friendly  atti- 
tude toward  us  was  actually  the  cause  of  long  delay  and 
considerable  friction.  It  would  hav'e  been  better  if  we 
had  from  the  outset  adhered  to  Hamdy  Bey,  and  to  him 
only ;  and  had  I  then  had  the  experience  of  his  honor 
which  I  made  later,  I  should  certainly  have  confided  my- 
self entirely  to  his  hands. 

These  various  delays  had  already  kept  me  in  Constan- 
tinople a  month  longer  than  I  had  expected  to  be  there. 
When  I  reached  Constantinople,  at  the  beginning  of  Sep- 
tember, there  had  seemed  to  be  no  reason  why  I  could 
not  conclude  my  business  and  obtain  my  firman  in  three 
weeks,  or  a  month  at  the  most.  In  any  case,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  make  some  provision  for  the  other  members  of 
the  expedition.  We  expected  the  issuance  of  the  firman 
any  day,  and  it  was  desirable  that  they  should  be  so  situ- 
ated that  they  could  be  gathered  together  to  start  for  the 
field  of  work  at  a  moment's  notice.      ^Moreover,  to  main- 


OBTAINING  AN  IRADE. 


35 


tain  them  separately  in  Europe  or  America  was  far  more 
expensive  than  to  gather  them  together  at  some  point  in 
Turkey,  where  they  could  at  least  make  a  pretence  of 
doing  some  work,  and  at  the  same  time  gain  experience 
and  become  hardened  for  the  campaign  before  them. 
Accordingly  I  arranged  to  bring  them  together  at  Alex- 
andretta  toward  the  end  of  September.  Noorian  reached 
there  on  the  20th  of  September.  Haynes  left  Constan- 
tinople on  the  27th  of  September  to  join,  at  Smyrna, 
Field,  Harper  and  Hilprecht,  who  were  to  come  to- 
gether from  Marseilles  in  a  steamer  of  the  Mcssageries 
Maritii)ics.  Before  leaving  Constantinople,  Haynes 
received  notice  of  his  appointment  as  consul  at  Baghdad  ; 
but  his  commission  could  not  be  issued  until  his  bond 
had  been  filed,  which  occasioned  delay,  since  the  pro- 
posed bondsmen  were  in  America. 

Haynes,  Field,  Harper,  and  Hilprecht  met  at  Smyrna 
Saturday,  September  29th,  and  set  out  the  same  day  in 
the  steamer  SindJi  for  Alexandretta.  Sunday  morning, 
at  1. 10  A.M.,  the  night  being  clear  and  the  sea  calm,  they 
ran,  head  on,  upon  the  island  of  Samos,  which  rises  some 
6000  feet  out  of  the  sea.  They  were  kept  on  the  ship  for 
a  day  and  a  half,  when  they  where  taken  off  by  a  Turkish 
brigantine,  without  the  loss  of  any  of  their  effects,  and 
landed  at  Vathy,  the  capital  of  Samos.  There  was  at  no 
time  any  danger,  and  the  accident  itself  seems  to  have 
been  due  entirely  to  criminal  carelessness.  At  Vathy  the 
company  of  the  Mcssageries  Maritimes  left  them  to  shift 
for  themselves  for  three  days.  They  then  took  them  to 
Smyrna  in  a  small  open  steamer.  The  journey  lasted  all 
night,  and  there  was  only  sitting  room  on  the  boat.  At 
Smyrna  they  were  again  left  to  shift  for  themselves,  with 
the  information  that  their  tickets  would  be  good  to  Alex- 
andretta by  the  Bell  line  of  English  steamers  or  by  the 
Russian  line.  Haynes  and  Hilprecht  went  on  by  the 
Bell  line  the  same  day,  and  Field  and  Harper  followed 


36  NIPPUR. 

on  the  Russian  steamer  three  days  later,  the  two  parties 
arriving  at  Alexandretta  on  the  12th  and  13th  of  Octo- 
ber respectively. 

From  Alexandretta,  Hilprecht  proceeded  at  once,  in 
accordance  with  instructions  from  me,  to  Beirout.  Mr. 
Rylands,  secretary  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology, 
had  urged  me  to  make  a  new  examination  of  the  inscrip- 
tions of  the  Nahr-el-Kelb,  near  that  place.  This  offered 
to  one  of  our  party  employment  promising  possible  valu- 
able results,  and  Hilprecht  seemed  to  me  the  best  quali- 
fied to  undertake  the  work.  He  was  further  to  endeavor 
to  secure  through  Dr.  Post  a  graduate  of  the  Syrian 
Protestant  College  at  Beirout,  who  would  be  able  to  act 
as  physician  and  at  the  same  time  make  botanical  and 
zoological  collections  for  the  expedition.  Dr.  Post  had 
himself  suggested  this,  thinking  that  he  could  furnish  us 
with  the  right  man  at  about  five  liras  a  month,  and  at  his 
suggestion  I  had  purchased  while  in  London  apparatus 
for  the  collections.  He  was,  however,  unable  to  obtain 
a  man  for  us  at  less  than  ten  liras  a  month,  and  we  were 
obliged  to  abandon  the  idea  of  a  botanical  and  zoological 
collector  for  that  year.  Hilprecht  found  one  new  Latin 
inscription,  but  otherwise  his  expedition  was  unproduc- 
tive of  results.  He  returned  to  Alexandretta  overland 
on  his  own  responsibility,  searching  for  inscriptions  by  the 
way,  and  joined  Noorian  at  that  place  toward  the  middle 
of  November,  remaining  there  until  my  arrival. 

Field,  Harper,  and  Haynes  were,  according  to  my 
directions,  to  spend  their  time  as  far  as  practicable  in 
visiting  sites  in  northern  Syria,  especially  those  in  which 
excavations  had  already  been  conducted,  like  Zenjirli 
and  Jerabus,  the  ancient  Carchemish.  Field  was  also  to 
fill  in  a  map  given  me  by  Kiepert.  Harper  was  to  look 
■out  for  antiquities,  and  Haynes  to  photograph  all  places 
and  objects  of  interest.  They  made  their  headquarters 
first  at  Aintab,  and  afterwards  at  Aleppo,  at  both  of  which 


OBTAINING  AN  IRADE.  37 

places  they  were  treated  with  much  hospitahty  by  the 
American  missionaries  there  resident.  They  visited  also 
the  interesting  ruins  on  Jebel  Siman  and  in  its  neighbor- 
hood. Unfortunately  Haynes's  photographs  of  these 
ruins  proved  a  complete  failure,  because,  in  his  desire  to 
save  money,  he  used  for  his  exposures  old  rolls  which  had 
been  in  his  possession  for  a  couple  of  years.  The  result  of 
their  two  and  a  half  months  in  northern  Syria  was  nothing. 

The  difficulties  of  my  situation  in  Constantinople  were 
much  increased  by  the  restlessness  of  the  men  during  this 
long  period  of  waiting.  Having  no  experience  of  Turkish 
procrastination  and  dilatoriness,  they  could  not  under- 
stand the  long  delay,  and  grew  very  restive  under  it, 
writing  and  telegraphing,  both  to  me  and  to  the  Commit- 
tee, expressions  of  their  impatience, — an  impatience  which 
was  certainly  natural  under  the  circumstances.  One  of 
them  even  proposed  to  return  to  the  United  States,  sup- 
posing that  we  would  be  unable  to  obtain  a  firman. 

At  the  time  of  my  arrival  at  Constantinople  in  Septem- 
ber, Dr.  Humann  was  there  negotiating  with  Hamdy  Bey 
concerning  the  division  of  the  objects  found  by  the  Ger- 
mans in  Zenjirli.  They  had  excavated  under  the  terms 
of  the  law,  and  afterwards  packed  the  objects  and  brought 
them  to  Constantinople,  with  the  understanding,  it  was 
said,  that  in  return  they  should  receive  one  half.  I 
counted  thirty-fiv^e  large  boxes  in  the  custom-house,  and 
was  told  that  a  number  of  smaller  objects,  including 
some  Greek  inscriptions,  had  been  sent  privately  to  Ber- 
lin. Ultimately  the  Germans  succeeded  in  obtaining  the 
lion's  share  of  the  objects  found,  including  valuable  Ara- 
maic and  cuneiform  inscriptions,  for  German  influence 
was  very  strong  both  at  the  Palace  and  the  Porte. 

Toward  the  end  of  October,  Mr.  Budge  of  the  British 
Museum  arrived  in  Constantinople  to  negotiate  for  per- 
mission to  dig  at  Kouyunjik.  The  British  Embassy 
made  an  earnest  effort  to  secure  for  him  special  terms. 


38  NIPPUR. 

His  object  was  to  search  for  more  remains  of  the  royal 
library  identified  and  partly  discovered  by  George  Smith. 
The   proposed   terms   were   that    Budge   should   take   all 

finds"  belonging  to  that  library,  and  that  everything 
else  found  by  him  should  be  the  property  of  the  museum 
in  Stamboul.  Our  friends  were  of  the  opinion  that  these 
negotiations  unfavorably  affected  ours,  causing  greater 
delay.  But  far  more  annoying  and  hurtful  to  us  was  an 
article  published  by  Theodore  Bent  in  the  Nov^ember 
number  of  the  Contonporary  Rcviczu.  Bent  had  dug  at 
Thasos  the  year  before,  under  the  supposition  that  that 
island  belonged  to  Egypt.  This  the  Turkish  Government 
did  not  admit,  and  sent  a  gunboat  to  take  possession  of 
the  objects  found.  Having  tried  in  vain  to  secure  their 
return  from  Hamdy  Bey,  Bent  went  with  his  wife  to  Syra, 
and  engaged  a  small  craft,  with  fifteen  men  to  man  it. 
With  this  he  made  piratical  descents  in  the  cause 
of  archaeology  on  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor.  Not  con- 
tent with  this  revenge,  he  published  in  the  Contem- 
porary Review  a  most  scurrilous  personal  attack  on 
Hamdy  Bey,  in  which  the  latter's  wife  and  mother-in-law 
were  not  spared.  Mr.  Bent  also  alluded  to  us,  stating 
that  we  were  spending  large  sums  to  obtain  a  favorable 
firman,  and  that  Mr.  Straus  was  bribing  Hamdy  Bey  in 
our  behalf.  All  these  things  were  against  us.  Moreover, 
just  at  this  time  there  appeared  in  the  New  York  U^orld 
an  infamous  story  about  a  disreputable  American  variety 
actress,  who  was  said  to  have  entered  the  Sultan's  harem, 
and  finally  to  have  been  poisoned  there  with  a  dozen 
other  inmates.  The  whole  thing  was  an  invention  from 
beginning  to  end.  The  woman  had  never  had  any  con- 
nection with  the  Sultan,  and  was  alive,  and  living  with  a 
petty  Turkish  ofificial,  at  the  time.  This  scandalous  pub- 
lication created  prejudice  and  suspicion  at  the  Palace 
against  Americans  and  American  affairs  of  all  sorts. 

Mr.  Straus,  our  minister,  returned  to  his  post  on  the 


OBTAINING  AN  IRADE.  39 

5th  of  November,  and  at  once  took  the  negotiations  into 
his  own  hands,  showing  the  greatest  interest  in  the  mat- 
ter. But  now  occurred  the  most  exasperating  delay  of 
all.  When  a  paper  goes  to  the  Palace  for  the  Sultan's 
approval,  the  secretary  makes  a  resume  of  its  contents. 
On  the  basis  of  this  rcsiiinc,  the  Sultan  ordinarily  ap- 
proves or  rejects  the  application.  He  does  not  himself 
sign  anything,  it  may  be  said,  but  merely  expresses 
approval,  which  the  secretary  then  indorses  on  the 
paper.  It  turned  out  in  our  case  that  the  Sultan  had 
taken  it  into  his  head  not  to  be  content  with  the  resume, 
but  to  demand  the  paper  itself.  The  matter  was  there- 
fore in  his  hands,  and  could  not  be  pressed.  On  the  i6th 
of  November,  nothing  having  been  heard  from  this  paper, 
Mr.  Straus  asked  for  an  audience,  but,  as  that  was  the 
birthday  of  Mohammed,  the  Sultan  could  not  receive 
him.  At  last,  on  the  19th  of  November,  Mr.  Straus 
asked  the  Grand  Vizier  to  make  inquiry  about  the  mat- 
ter, and  the  Grand  Vizier  promised  to  do  so.  On  the 
22d  I  went  to  the  Porte  with  Mr.  Gargiulo  to  ascertain 
the  result  of  his  inquiries,  and  found  that  he  had  made 
none.  Mr.  Straus  had,  however,  been  invited  to  dine 
with  the  Sultan  on  Friday  evening,  the  23d,  and  the 
Grand  Vizier  said  that  it  would  be  quite  in  accordance 
with  etiquette  to  take  that  opportunity  to  ask  the  Sultan 
about  the  paper.  As  a  last  resource,  Mr.  Straus  agreed 
to  do  so ;  and  in  a  pause  of  the  play  after  dinner,  Friday, 
the  23d,  he  instructed  Mr.  Gargiulo  to  ask  the  Sultan 
whether  he  proposed  to  grant  us  permission  to  excavate 
or  no.  The  Sultan  appeared  never  to  have  heard  of  the 
matter  before,  and  at  once  pronounced  the  magical 
words,  "  Let  it  be  done  accordingly,"  which  constitute 
an  irade.  He  was  then  told  that  the  papers  were  in  his 
own  possession,  whereupon  he  repeated  the  words.  The 
Grand  Vizier  and  the  second  chamberlain  were  informed 
forthwith,  and  the  thing  was  supposed  to  be  done. 


40  NIPPUR. 

Saturday,  the  24th,  Mr.  Gargiulo  went  up  to  the  Pal- 
ace to  see  if  the  irade  had  been  issued,  but  found  that 
the  secretary  had  received  no  instructions,  and  knew 
nothing  about  the  matter.  He  then  went  to  the  second 
Chamberlain,  who  could  not  speak  to  his  Majesty  at  that 
time  because  he  was  taking  a  nap.  but  promised  to  pre- 
sent the  matter  to  him  later  in  the  day.  Sunday,  the 
25th,  Gargiulo  went  again.  The  mazbata  could  not  be 
found  ;  but  the  Sultan  sent  word  to  the  Porte  to  go  ahead 
with  the  matter,  and  he  would  send  the  necessary  papers 
afterwards.  Monday  I  went  to  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Instruction  with  Vlx.  Gargiulo,  and  made  the  requisite 
deposit  of  100  liras,  and  paid  the  permission  fee  of 
20  liras,  taking  a  receipt  for  the  same.  The  necessary 
papers  had  not  yet  come  over  from  the  Porte,  and  there- 
fore, although  the  permit  was  ready,  it  could  not  be 
issued.  I  asked  Gargiulo  to  read  the  permission  and 
see  that  it  was  all  right.  The  word  sell  had  been  sub- 
stituted for  give,  contrary  to  the  promises  made  to  us. 
Gargiulo  said  that  the  change  had  been  made  after  the 
original  draft  had  been  shown  to  him.  W'e  asked  to  see 
the  minister,  and  both  of  us  expostulated  with  him, 
reminding  him  of  his  own  words  and  those  of  Hamdy 
Bey.  He  insisted  that  this  was  just  what  he  had  prom- 
ised, and  that  it  could  not  be  changed.  We  then  went 
to  the  Porte  to  see  why  the  Grand  Vizier  had  not  for- 
warded the  papers,  and  were  told  that  he  had  given  the 
necessary  orders,  but  that  the  papers  had  not  yet  been 
prepared,  owing  to  the  absence  from  his  post  of  the  man 
who  should  have  written  them. 

Going  out,  we  fell  in  with  Hagop  Pasha,  privy  purse 
and  acting  minister  of  finance.  Near  the  entrance  door 
within  the  large  hall  a  number  of  poor,  ragged  women 
were  squatting.  We  saw  them  spring  up  and  rush  at 
Hagop  with  menacing  gestures  and  shrill  scoldings, 
threatening  to  mob  him.     The  soldiers  on  c^uard  stood 


OBTAINING  AN  IRADE.  4 1 

motionless,  and  for  a  few  moments  it  looked  as  though 
serious  injury  might  be  done  to  the  minister.  He  finally 
escaped  into  his  carriage,  and  drove  off  as  speedily  as  pos- 
sible, leaving  the  women  scolding  and  screaming  after 
him.  They  were  the  wives  of  unpaid  employees  demand- 
ing their  husbands'  pay,  asserting  their  needs,  and  threat- 
ening to  mob  the  minister.  The  husbands  had  left  their 
wives  to  collect  their  wages,  because  Mussulman  women, 
cannot  be  touched  in  public,  and  consequently  may  defy 
laws  and  occasionally  enforce  their  just  demands  with 
impunity,  where  the  men  might  forfeit  their  lives  in 
attempting  the  same  thing. 

The  more  I  thought  of  the  form  in  which  the  permis- 
sion to  excavate  was  now  being  issued,  the  more  anxious 
I  became  about  it.  Tuesday  morning,  the  27th,  I  had  a 
conference  on  the  subject  with  Mr.  Straus.  He  also  felt 
that  he  had  been  defrauded,  and  that  what  we  had 
obtained  was  entirely  out  of  proportion  to  what  the 
Grand  Vizier  had  promised,  or  even  to  what  we  were  told 
had  been  granted.  However,  to  reject  this  permission 
would  insure  another  three-months'  delay  at  the  least, 
and  it  was  therefore  thought  best  for  me  to  take  it  and 
go  ahead.  After  I  had  gone,  Mr.  Straus  was  to  resume 
his  efforts  to  obtain  the  terms  which  we  understood  to 
have  been  originally  promised.  The  committee  of  Rob- 
ert College  professors,  with  whom  I  had  kept  in  the  clos- 
est touch,  were  also  of  the  opinion  that  this  was  the  only 
thing  to  do. 

On  Wednesday  the  papers  Avere  not  yet  ready,  and  it 
was  arranged  that  Mr.  Gargiulo  and  I  should  go  to  the 
Porte  the  next  day,  Thanksgiving  Day,  Thursday  the 
29th,  and  I  was  to  make  every  arrangement  to  start  on 
Saturday  by  a  steamer  of  the  Russian  line  sailing  on  that 
day.  Accordingly  Thursday  we  went  to  the  Porte,  where 
we  ascertained  from  the  secretary  that  the  papers  had 
gone  over  to  the   Ministry  of   Public    Instruction.      We 


42  NIPPUR. 

followed  them  up,  arriving  almost  as  soon  as  they  did,  to 
the  surprise  of  the  minister's  secretary.  As  he  was  under 
some  obligation  to  Gargiulo,  we  were  enabled  to  find 
out  through  him  that  the  change  from  give  to  sell  had 
been  made  by  order  of  the  Grand  Vizier;  the  latter 
had  also  ordered  that  the  permission  to  excavate  should 
not  be  given  to  me  directly,  but  be  placed  in  a  sealed 
envelope  addressed  to  the  Governor-General  of  Baghdad, 
not  to  be  handed  over  to  me  until  my  topographical  plan 
had  been  presented.  I  saw  the  minister  once  more,  and 
•asked  for  a  letter  of  recommendation  to  the  Governor- 
General  of  Baghdad,  and  that  a  statement  of  our  right  to 
export  should  be  put  in  the  letter  to  him.  This  was 
promised,  and  at  least  in  part  executed. 

In  spite  of  the  friendly  exertions  of  the  secretary,  the 
permit  was  not  obtained  until  almost  four  o'clock,  three 
hours  after  our  arrival.  As  a  special  favor,  in  order  to 
avoid  further  delay,  Gargiulo  was  permitted  himself 
to  take  it  to  the  Grand  Vizier;  but  the  latter  declined  to 
affix  his  seal  on  account  of  technical  irregularities,  and  we 
were  dismissed  at  last  with  the  work  not  yet  complete. 
This  was  the  more  unfortunate,  as  Friday  was  an  official 
holiday  on  which  no  work  could  be  done.  That  after- 
noon Professor  van  Millingen  and  I  went  to  see  Hamdy 
Bey,  and  bid  him  farewell.  I  complained  of  the  change 
which  had  been  made  from  give  to  sell,  which  he  at- 
tributed to  the  Grand  Vizier,  expressing  much  indigna- 
tion at  the  latter's  interference. 

Saturday  morning,  December  1st,  Mr.  Gargiulo  and  I 
went  early  to  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction.  By 
noon  the  technical  error  in  the  permission  had  been  cor- 
rected, and  we  were  permitted  to  carry  it  once  more  to 
the  Porte,  together  with  a  letter  of  recommendation  to 
the  Governor-General  of  Haleb.  The  Grand  Vizier  was 
detained  at  the  Palace,  and  did  not  arrive  until  about 
two   o'clock.      Thanks   to   Gargiulo,    every   one   hurried, 


OBTAIXIXG  AN  IRAD&. 


43 


and  the  necessary  papers  were  in  our  hands  within  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  after  the  Grand  Vizier's  arrival.  In 
the  latter's  letter  of  recommendation  to  the  officials  on 
the  route,  it  proved  that  he  had  left  out  the  permission  to 
carry  arms  which  he  had  promised  to  give  me.  In  fact, 
he  had  told  me  that  we  must  not  go  through  that  coun- 
try without  being  well  armed.  In  answer  to  my  remon- 
strances, he  said  that  we  would  know  how  to  get  the  arms 
through  the  custom-house,  and  that  a  written  permission 
could  not  be  given.  While  this  letter  of  recommendation 
was  being  prepared,  we  returned  to  the  ^Ministry  of  Pub- 
lic Instruction  to  obtain  Munif's  letter  to  the  Governor- 
General  of  Baghdad.  This  was  handed  to  us  sealed ;  but 
Ave  opened  it  and  read  the  contents,  to  make  sure  that  all 
was  satisfactory,  and  then  scaled  it  up  again,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  country,  for  no  one  dare  take  a  note 
the  contents  of  which  he  has  not  seen.  My  permission, 
however,  I  could  not  see,  nor  could  I  obtain  a  copy  of  it. 
By  much  hurrying  we  were  at  the  custom-house  a 
little  before  three  o'clock,  where  Prince,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  a  clerk  and  a  cawass  from  the  legation,  had  every- 
thing in  readiness  for  the  embarkation;  and  at  four 
o'clock,  December  ist,  we  actually  left  Constantinople 
on  the  Russian  steamer  CcsareivitcJi. 


CHAPTER    in. 

IMPRESSIONS    OF    CONSTANTINOPLE. 

Negotiating  a  Loan — Friends  and  Antiquities — St.  George  and  St.  Nicholas 
— Dangers  and  Dogs — Persian  Passion  Play — Bemoaning  Husein — Self- 
Torture — Turkish  Soldiers — Bektash  Dervishes — Howling  Dervishes — 
Description  of  a  Service — Foot  and  Breath  Cures — Dancing  Dervishes — 
Entertained  by  Dervishes — The  Doctrine  of  Love — Oddities — Porters 
and  Firemen — The  Climate. 

IT  is  impossible  to  pass  over  my  three  months'  stay  at 
Constantinople  without  a  few  words  about  my  im- 
pressions and  experiences.  Constantinople  is  by  all  odds 
the  most  fascinating  city  I  ever  lived  in, — fascinating  by 
its  strange  mixture  of  squalor  and  magnificence,  ugliness 
and  glorious  beauty,  misery  and  merriment,  by  all  the 
paradoxes  and  anachronisms  and  incongruities  in  which 
it  abounds;  fascinating  also  because  of  the  romantic 
possibilities  of  each  minute  you  live,  each  step  you  make. 
Who  knows  what  may  happen  any  moment,  and  what 
share  you  may  have  in  it  ?  One  minute  you  speak  of 
trivialities,  the  next  moment  you  are  discussing  the  fate 
of  nations.  Over  your  coffee  and  cigarettes  you  involve 
all  Europe  in  war,  and  divide  up  the  Turkish  Empire. 
To  march  the  Russians  across  the  frontier,  to  give  a 
province  to  Austria, — such  things  are  a  mere  bagatelle. 
And  you  take  part  in  all  that  is  done,  or  think  you  do, 
which  is  the  same  thing.  Never  mind  how  insignificant 
you  are,  you  cannot  but  feel  yourself  important  in 
Constantinople. 

44 


IMPJiESSIOXS   OF   CON  STAN  TIXOPLE.  45 

One  day  I  met  the  Bulgarian  Minister  of  Finance, 
who  wished  to  re-introduce  the  cultivation  of  rice  at 
Sophia,  and  requested  me  to  put  him  in  communication 
with  our  American  rice  planters.  Another  day  I  was 
approached  on  behalf  of  the  Turkish  Government  with  a 
proposition  to  place  a  loan  of  $10,000,000  in  America. 
As  security  for  this,  they  were  willing  to  pledge  the 
revenues  of  Smyrna  or  Beirout,  or  in  fact  anything  which 
was  unpledged.  It  was  becoming  more  and  more  difficult 
to  obtain  money  in  England  or  France,  and  the  Porte 
was  anxious  to  find  new  lenders.  The  American  bankers 
to  whom  I  referred  the  matter  took  counsel  with  their 
London  correspondents,  and  refused  to  lend  the  money 
on  any  terms,  because  they  would  have  no  government 
protection  behind  them  to  secure  payment.  Later  the 
loan  was  made  by  the  Deutsche  Bank,  which  secured  a 
railroad  concession  as  a  bonus.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  that  new  financial  relation  of  Germany  with  Turkey 
which  has  so  much  to  do  with  Emperor  William's  desire 
to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  An- 
other day  I  was  requested  to  procure  a  brace  of  the  new 
hammerless  Smith  and  Wesson  revolvers  for  a  Turkish 
ofificial. 

All  the  Americans  and  English  in  Constantinople  were 
most  hospitable.  Mr.  Pears,  the  author  of  TJic  Fall  of 
Constantiiioplc,  put  us  up  at  the  Club  de  Pera,  and  there 
we  took  our  meals  for  almost  two  months,  meeting  every 
one.  We  were  frequent  guests  at  Roumeli  Hissar  with 
the  various  professors  of  Robert  College,  at  the  Girls' 
College  in  Scutari,  and  at  the  houses  of  the  missionaries 
residing  in  that  quarter,  as  well  as  with  the  Azarians  at 
the  island  of  Prinkipo.  W^e  explored  all  the  antiquities 
of  Constantinople  under  the  best  guidance, — those  admi- 
rably preserved  walls,  the  best  preserved  walls  in  exist- 
ence, I  believe,  the  cisterns  and  mosques,  the  hippodrome, 
the  seraglio,  the  palaces,  and  the  various  monuments  of 


46  XIPPUR. 

the  Bosphorus.  Almost  all  the  antiquities  in  Constan- 
tinople outside  of  the  museum  are  either  Turkish  or 
Byzantine;  but  there  are  here  and  there  in  out-of-the-way 
places  a  very  few  earlier  inscriptions,  which  Dr.  Long- 
revealed  to  us.  With  his  assistance,  I  endeavored  also  to 
come  into  contact  with  the  dealers  in  antiquities,  only  to 
ascertain  that  very  little  from  Irak  finds  its  way  to  the 
capital.  I  secured,  however,  a  good  but  small  collection 
of  inscribed  clay  tablets  from  the  neighborhood  of 
Caesarea  in  Cappadocia.  There  was  also  offered  me  for 
sale  a  fine  vase  with  a  bilingual  or  trilingual  inscription 
of  Artaxerxes.  This  I  identified  as  the  vase  stolen  from 
the  Tresorio  di  San  Marco  in  Venice  some  years  before. 
I  sent  word  to  Baron  Blanc,  the  Italian  ambassador,  hop- 
ing that  he  might  be  induced  to  purchase  it  and  restore  it 
to  Italy,  but  to  no  purpose.  From  one  pasha  who  had 
been  in  Baghdad  I  bought  a  small  barrel  cylinder  of  Nebu- 
chadrezzar, which  I  found  on  examination  to  be  a  forgery. 
We  spent  much  time  in  caiques,  floating  up  and  down 
the  sapphire-blue  waters  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  exploring 
its  romantic  shores  from  the  Marmora  to  Buyukdere.  It 
was  a  lesson  in  comparative  religion  to  observ^e  the  man- 
ner in  which  ancient  sacred  sites  have  changed  hands 
and  names,  while  preserving  the  primitive  cult  practi- 
cally unchanged.  So,  on  Giant  Mountain,  nearly  opposite 
Therapia,  there  is  a  ^Moslem  holy  place  said  to  be  the 
tomb  of  the  great  toe  of  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun.  In  the 
days  of  the  Byzantine  Empire  this  was  the  tomb  of  St. 
Pantaleon,  and  in  the  heathen  Greek  and  Roman  times  it 
was  the  bed  of  Heracles.  There  is  a  prehistoric  tumulus 
there,  which  originally  gave  the  place  its  sanctity;  and 
with  a  changed  name  each  new  religion  has  retained  the 
primitive  cult.  Moslems  now  place  shreds  of  their  gar- 
ments and  votives  upon  the  ancient  tomb,  as  Christians 
and  heathen  did  before  them.  On  the  Princes'  Islands 
one  finds  everywhere  on   the  hills  churches  dedicated  to 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  COXSTAXTIXOPIE.  47 

St.  George,  while  close  to  the  shore  are  the  churches  of 
St.  Nicholas.  St.  George  is  the  heir  of  Apollo,  whose- 
temples  in  heathen  times  stood  on  the  hilltops,  and  St. 
Nicholas  has  inherited  the  seashore  temples  of  Poseidon. 
To  the  church  of  St.  George  in  the  island  of  Prinkipo 
they  used  to  send  the  insane  to  be  healed,  and  the  rings 
let  into  the  stones  to  which  they  fastened  them  are  still 
in  the  church  floor.  This,  too,  may  be  a  relic  of  the 
earlier  heathen  past. 

Our  great  recreation  and  refreshment  was  riding  on 
horseback.  Some  of  the  Constantinople  street  horses  are 
admirable  mounts;  and  we  scoured  the  country  two  or 
three  times  a  week,  frequently  with  Professor  van  Mil- 
lingen  as  companion,  from  the  Marmora  to  the  Euxine 
on  both  sides  of  the  Strait.  The  outskirts  of  Constan- 
tinople are  said  to  be  very  dangerous,  and  we  heard  much 
of  robberies,  outrages,  and  murders.  One  day  the  papers 
announced  the  discovery  in  the  Bosphorus,  near  Kadikeui, 
of  the  body  of  an  eighteen-year-old  girl,  with  her  hands 
tied  behind  her  back.  This  was  a  harem  execution,  but 
the  official  inquest  pronounced  it  suicide.  We  were 
advised  always  to  ride  armed,  but  never  had  any  occasion 
to  use  our  arms,  although  more  than  once  after  dark  I 
rode  alone  by  the  lonely  back  road  over  the  hills  from 
Pera  to  Roumeli  Hissar.  Occasionally  a  surly  Albanian 
shepherd  would  set  on  us  his  fierce  dogs,  to  kill  one  of 
which  causes  a  blood  feud,  like  the  killing  of  a  man;  but 
being  mounted,  our  heavy  long-lashed  dog  whips  were 
sufficient  protection  against  these.  Once  when  I  was 
riding  alone  at  dusk  through  the  filthy  streets  of  the 
quarter  called  Kasim  Pasha,  a  couple  of  soldiers  made  a 
feeble  demonstration  of  doing  me  an  injury;  but  a  blow 
of  the  loaded  butt-end  of  my  whip,  aimed  at  the  head  of 
the  one  who  had  grabbed  my  horse's  bridle,  was  quite 
enough  to  secure  me  free  passage,  and  my  horse  attended 
to  the  rest. 


48  NIPPUR. 

Actually  my  most  serious  adventure  was  with  the 
•common  street  dogs  in  the  most  frequented  and  civil- 
ized part  of  the  whole  city,  the  Grande  Rue  de  Pera.  I 
was  returning  from  the  legation  to  my  hotel  one  rainy 
night,  clothed  from  head  to  foot  in  white  rubber.  My 
unusual  appearance  aroused  some  of  the  dogs  in  the 
neiehborhood  of  the  legation,  who  were  rendered  cross 
and  uncomfortable  by  the  wet  and  cold,  and  they  began 
to  bark  at  me.  This  attracted  others,  until  I  was  finally 
beset  by  a  hundred  or  more  barking,  howling  curs,  whose 
noise  was  echoed  by  other  dogs  in  the  neighboring  streets 
and  alleys,  until  all  Pera  seemed  to  be  a  canine  pande- 
monium. Rendered  brave  by  numbers,  they  at  last 
undertook  to  attack  me;  and  I,  being  unarmed  even  with 
a  stick,  was  much  put  to  it  to  defend  myself  and  my 
clothes.  Fortunately  they  are  great  cowards,  and  I  was 
able  to  scatter  them  for  a  moment  at  a  time  by  charging 
them  with  screams  and  wild  gestures.  It  took  me  a  long 
time  to  fight  my  way  home  in  this  manner;  but,  long  as 
the  time  was,  I  did  not  encounter  a  single  one  of  those 
bekjees,  or  watchmen,  who  seem  to  be  so  numerous  on 
pleasant  nights,  and  who  go  about  thumping  their  sticks 
on  the  pavement  to  show  robbers  that  they  are  watching 
for  them. 

The  dogs  seemed  to  me,  as  to  most  travellers,  one  of 
the  most  curious  features  of  Constantinople.  Everywhere 
in  the  East,  dogs  are  the  most  important  part,  if  not  the 
whole,  of  the  sewage  system.  But  the  Constantinople 
dogs  have  had  from  time  immemorial  a  fame  different 
from  that  of  the  dogs  of  other  places.  They  are  curs,  of 
a  decidedly  mixed  race.  One  can  trace  several  types; 
but  the  common  dog  is  j^ellow  in  color,  good-sized,  with 
rather  long  hair.  I  think  the  original  stock  must  have 
been  the  common  shepherd  dog  of  Turkey;  and  now  and 
then  one  sees  among  them  a  large  dog,  black  and  yellow, 
almost   exactly   like  the   Turkish   shepherd  dogs   of   the 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  CONSTANTIXOPLE.  49 

present  day.  These  true  shepherd  dogs  are  large  and 
strong  and  fierce;  but  the  Constantinople  curs,  their 
mongrel  descendants,  have  certainly  lost  their  ferocity. 
They  have  imbibed  the  traits  of  the  human  beings  among 
whom  they  live.  Men  and  dogs  in  Constantinople  both 
have  the  same  characteristics, — lazy,  shiftless,  good- 
natured,  divided  into  various  contending  nationalities  or 
cliques,  living  in  the  street,  refusing  to  budge  even  when 
trodden  upon,  given  more  to  barking  than  biting.  On 
the  tramcar  streets,  through  which  run  the  most  pre- 
posterous tramcars  in  pairs,  with  a  runner  blowing  a  horn 
going  ahead  to  warn  people  off  the  track,  you  often  find 
maimed  dogs,  who  have  lost  a  leg  because  they  were  too 
lazy  to  get  out  of  the  way  of  the  cars.  By  day  the  dogs 
lie  sleeping  in  the  streets,  appropriating  what  of  sidewalk 
there  may  be,  and  nestling  in  all  the  many  hollows  which 
have  been  formed  in  the  neglected  pavements.  By  night 
they  prowl  and  howl.  Sometimes  a  dog  wanders  into  a 
strange  street  or  district;  then  all  the  dogs  in  that  district 
set  upon  him  with  much  barking,  and  drive  him  out. 

The  people  are  very  good  to  these  street  dogs,  rarely 
maltreating  or  killing  them.  Foreign  or  half-foreign  Chris- 
tians sometimes  poison  the  dogs  in  their  neighborhood; 
but  such  conduct  is  resented  by  the  people  at  large,  and 
especially  by  the  Moslems.  In  general  the  natives  pro- 
tect them,  and  in  bad  weather  you  will  frequently  observe 
benevolent  householders  furnishing  food  and  shelter  to 
mother  dogs  with  litters  of  puppies.  One  pretty  instance 
of  this  I  remember  in  a  side  street  through  which  I  passed 
every  day  on  my  way  to  the  Club.  There  was  a  mother 
dog  with  one  puppy.  Then  some  one  gave  them  a  piece 
of  old  matting  to  sleep  on,  placing  it  on  the  sidewalk 
where  it  was  narrow,  so  that  passers-by  were  obliged  either 
to  dislodge  the  dogs  or  step  out  into  the  street.  Then  they 
conveyed  dogs  and  matting  across  the  street  to  a  more 
protected  spot.      When  the  rainy  weather  began, the  same 

VOL.  1—4 


50  NIPPUR. 

persons  built  the  dogs  a  little  house  of  matting  and  old 
bags,  held  up  with  sticks,  occupying  the  whole  of  the 
walk  at  that  point.  Later  they  built  a  more  durable 
house  of  stones  and  old  pieces  of  tin,  and  all  this  time 
they  furnished  these  dogs  with  food  and  drink.  Nor  is 
this  an  unusual  case. 

Not  long  after  my  arrival  in  Constantinople  occurred 
the  so-called  "  Persian  Passion  Play."  This  is  celebrated 
on  the  tenth  day  of  the  first  month,  Moharrem,  which  fell 
that  year,  the  year  1305  after  the  Hegira,  on  the  i6th  of 
September.  It  commemorates  the  death  of  Husein,  son 
of  Ali,  killed  in  the  battle  of  Kerbela.  Professor  van 
Millingen  secured  a  special  invitation  from  the  Persian 
ambassador,  under  whose  protection  the  play  is  given 
in  the  Valide  Khan  in  Stamboul,  and  we  went  as  his 
guests. 

We  crossed  the  bridge  of  boats  from  Pera  to  Stamboul 
shortly  before  sunset,  and  soon  found  ourselves  part  of  a 
motley  throng  around  the  large  khan  occupied  chiefly 
or  altogether  by  Persian  merchants.  Passing  through  the 
gate,  we  entered  a  large  court,  surrounded  by  shops,  and 
having  a  couple  of  small  buildings  and  a  fountain  or  two 
in  the  centre.  The  roofs,  balconies,  and  windows  were 
thronged  with  women  and  children,  many  of  the  former 
wearing  black  robes.  Much  of  the  front  of  the  khan 
was  draped  in  black,  but  a  contrasting  effect  of  brilliancy 
was  produced  by  masses  of  lamps  and  huge  chandeliers 
full  of  candles.  We  found  our  way  through  a  large  con- 
course of  people,  among  whom  were  hundreds  of  Turkish 
soldiers,  necessary  to  prevent  serious  disorder,  to  the 
spot  beneath  an  awning  roped  off  for  the  guests  of  the 
Persian  Embassy.  On  the  way  we  passed  between  two 
lines  of  men,  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  in 
number,  armed  with  swords  and  knives,  bare-headed,  and 
with  white  smocks  over  their  clothing.  These  men, 
whose  business  it  was  to  gash  themselves  in  sign  of  grief. 


IMPHESSIOXS   OF   CONSTANTINOPLE.  5  I 

are  drawn  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  from  the  lower  classes, 
and  especially  from  the  donkey-drivers,  who  are  all  Per- 
sians. 

Soon  after  sunset  the  procession  began  to  move. 
First  came  a  couple  of  horses  with  little  children  on  their 
backs,  another  horse  carrying  two  unreal  doves,  and  an- 
other with  trappings  stained  in  imitation  of  blood.  With 
these  were  torch-bearers,  and  following  them  were 
mourners.  Some  of  these  beat  on  their  breasts,  some 
wore  mourning,  and  one  man  bore  in  his  arms  a  little 
child  whose  face  and  clothes  were  stained  with  blood, 
and  which,  with  a  pitiful  look  on  its  scared  face  because 
of  the  strange  and  terrible  sights  and  sounds,  clung  with 
a  nervous  grip  of  its  little  hands  to  its  father's  collar. 
Then  came  the  men  with  knives.  Each  brandished  his 
knife  or  sword  with  his  right  hand,  and  with  the  left 
clutched  his  neighbor's  girdle.  Facing  inward,  they  pro- 
gressed sideways  by  a  curious,  violent  step,  somewhat 
like  dancing,  swinging  their  swords,  and  shouting,  in  time 
with  the  double  movement  of  arms  and  legs,  "  Hasan^ 
Husein!"  After  them  came  a  motley  crowd  of  men, 
some  in  Frankish  or  European  dress  (excepting  the  head) ; 
some  in  long  Oriental  robes ;  some  wearing  the  red  Turk- 
ish fez,  some  the  black  Persian  fez,  and  some  the  turban. 
Many  had  bared  their  breasts;  and  almost  all  beat  upon 
the  breast  in  time  to  the  cry  of  the  knifemen,  "  Hasan, 
Husein!"  In  this  order  the  procession  passed  twice 
slowly  around  the  interior  of  the  khan,  and  then  went 
out  by  the  gate  to  encompass  the  outside  in  the  same 
way.  When  they  returned  at  the  end  of  about  half  an 
hour,  many  of  the  knifemen  were  stained  with  blood, 
which  poured  from  gashes  cut  by  themselves  upon  the 
shaven  tops  of  their  heads.  Behind  and  between  the 
ranks  of  the  knifemen  were  Turks  armed  with  sticks  to 
protect  the  fanatics  from  their  own  swords.  At  this  time, 
however,    it  did   not  seem  to  me  likely   that    the    men 


52 


NIPPUR. 


would  do  themselves  real  harm,  and  indeed  I  was  scep- 
tical about  the  genuineness  of  any  of  the  blood. 

After  the  procession  had  again  passed  twice  around  the 
interior  of  the  khan,  it  went  out  by  the  gate  as  before; 
and  we  went  by  invitation  into  a  room  with  a  divan  on 
three  sides,  where  we  were  hospitably  entertained  with 
tea  and  cigarettes,  and  were  enabled  to  sit  down  and  rest. 
From  the  window  of  this  room  we  witnessed  the  third 
scene,  a  complete  novelty  in  the  Persian  Play,  I  was  told. 
Persian  school-children  sang  religious  songs  and  hymns  ap- 
propriate to  the  mournful  occasion.     Then,  halting  in  front 
of  us,  an  imam  recited  a  number  of  short  prayers,  after 
each  of  which  the  children  sang  "Amen!  "  just  as  if  they 
had  been  trained  in  an  American  or  English  church  choir. 
Then  they  received  some  sherbet,  or  something  of  the  sort, 
and  went  out  by  a  side  door  through  one  of  the  houses. 
For  the  fourth  scene  I  obtained  a  place  in  the  front 
rank  of  the  spectators,  and  indeed  I  found  myself  almost 
among  the  actors,  for  the  press  was  such  that  the  barriers 
immediately  about  me  were  broken,  and  both  rabble  and 
mourners  were  pushed  in  upon  us;  but,  being  protected 
by  a  post,  I  was  able  to  hold  my  own,  though  the  knife- 
men  were  sometimes  so  close  to  me  on  both  sides  that  we 
were  almost  in  contact,  and  the  sword-blades  played  un- 
comfortably close  to  my   head.      The   interlude  of  the 
school-children  had  been  tender  and  touching,— a  great 
relief  after  the  fierce  demonstration  of  mourning  in  the  two 
former  scenes,— but  it  only  served  to  render  more  terrible 
the  two  closing  scenes.     These  were  both  alike,  except- 
ing that  they  increased  in  frenzy  constantly,  and  that  in 
the  fifth  scene  the  procession  marched  three  times  past  us, 
instead    of    twice.     The    torches    seemed    more    glaring, 
because  the  darkness  had  become  deeper.      Men  heaped 
fuel  into  the  iron  braziers  which  the  torch-bearers  carried 
on  the  ends  of  poles,  and  others  poured  on  kerosene-oil 
from  cans  to  cause  a  blaze. 


IMFMESSIOXS  OF  COX STAX TIXOP LE.  53 

Among  the  horses,  banners,  and  mournful  musicians, 
there  now  appeared  men  with  bared  backs,  violently 
scourging  themselves  with  bunches  of  chains.  The  thud 
of  the  blows  was  sickening;  and  their  poor  backs  were 
soon  a  revolting  spectacle,  bruised  and  bleeding.  Other 
men  beat  their  heads  and  faces  with  thorns.  The  knife- 
men  were  stained  with  blood  from  head  to  foot,  and  the 
men  with  sticks  had  the  greatest  dil^culty  in  preventing 
the  more  frenzied  among  them  from  killing  themselves 
outright, — a  thing  which  happens  not  infrequently  in 
Persia,  I  am  told.  The  movements  of  these  men,  too, 
became  more  rapid  and  irregular,  and  their  cries  wilder 
and  hoarser.  Now  they  would  rush,  stagger,  almost  tum- 
ble, to  our  side;  now  crowd  together  and  sway  out  tow- 
ard the  centre,  until  the  two  lines  almost  met.  Several 
times  I  thought  they  would  surely  kill  themselves,  so  vio- 
lently they  swung  their  swords.  At  one  time  they  came 
to  a  lock  about  my  post,  and  for  a  minute  or  more  were 
stationary,  close  to  me  on  both  sides,  one  of  them  only 
an  inch  or  two  away.  The  blood  was  streaming  in  torrents 
down  their  faces  and  backs,  they  were  blinded,  and,  in 
spite  of  the  intoxication  of  excitement,  strong  men  were 
staggering  from  loss  of  blood.  I  saw  several  carried  away 
unable  to  stand  ;  one  fainted  and  fell  to  the  ground.  Sev- 
eral times  I  saw  Turkish  soldiers  struggling  with  some  man 
who  was  bent  on  killing  himself,  disarming  him  and  carry- 
ing him  off.  Now  and  then  friends  would  rush  forward 
and  wipe  the  blood  from  a  man's  eyes,  or  bind  a  handker- 
chief above  them.  The  A\eirdness  of  the  scene  was  beyond 
description, — the  mournful,  barbarous  music;  the  mutter- 
ing thud  of  a  multitude  beating  the  breast;  the  sobs  of 
weeping  mourners;  the  rapid  strokes  of  the  scourges;  the 
wild  cries  of  "  Hasan,  Husein!"  the  sudden  flare  of  the 
torches,  illuminating  for  a  moment  the  outer  darkness, 
and  revealing  the  intent  crowds  around  and  on  the  house- 
tops; the  flashing  swords;  the  streaming  blood;  the  rapt, 


54  KIP  PUR. 

intense  looks  of  all,  even  the  European  spectators.  The 
excitement  of  the  actors  themselves  had  become  such, 
that  only  through  the  greatest  vigilance  on  the  part  of 
the  Turks  were  the  papers  able  to  report  on  the  following 
day  that  no  deaths  had  occurred. 

And  yet  they  tell  me  that  it  is  far  less  violent  than  it 
was  even  five  years  earlier.  I  inquired  about  the  after 
results,  thinking  that  men  who  had  been  marching,  cry- 
ing, swinging  swords,  and  cutting  and  beating  them- 
selves, for  almost  three  hours  without  intermission,  must 
suffer  horribly  afterwards,  but  was  assured  that  they 
would  be  all  right  in  half  an  hour.  I  can  only  say  that  I 
saw  a  number  of  them  twenty  minutes  or  half  an  hour 
after  the  performance  had  ended,  and  they  could  not 
walk  without  assistance. 

I  have  mentioned  the  soldiers  who  were  on  hand  to 
police  the  Persian  Passion  Play.  The  garrison  of  Con- 
stantinople consists  of  30,000  soldiers,  and3'ou  meet  them 
everywhere.  Their  barracks  are  on  all  the  roads  leading 
out  of  the  city,  and  nothing  is  more  familiar  in  the  streets 
of  all  quarters  of  the  city  than  military  uniforms.  In 
the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  Sultan's  palace  are 
stationed  7000  men.  picked  regiments,  who  act  as  his 
immediate  guard.  Every  Friday  there  is  a  parade  of  a 
few  thousand  men  in  connection  with  the  Selamlik.  The 
Sultan  is  obliged  to  visit  some  mosque  every  Friday 
morning.  The  road  on  which  he  is  to  go  is  lined  with 
soldiers  on  both  sides,  in  order  that  no  one  may  by  any 
chance  approach  him;  and  after  mosque  he  holds  a 
review,  which  is  followed  by  a  reception.  The  Grand 
Vizier  also  never  goes  through  the  streets  of  the  city 
without  a  guard.  He  drives  in  a  close  carriage;  and  be- 
hind him  ride  three  mounted  soldiers,  each  carrying  his 
repeating  rifle  in  his  hand  unslung,  ready  for  immediate 
use. 

Xext   to  the   Persian  Passion  Plav.   the  most  curious 


impjRessioxs  of  COXSTANTIXOPLE.  55 

and  surprising  sights  in  Constantinople,  from  a  religious 
point  of  view,  are  the  dervishes.  I  came  in  contact  with 
four  orders  of  dervishes, — the  Bektashee,  the  Mevlewee, 
the  Rufa'ee,  and  the  Bedawee.  These  are  all  secret 
religious  orders,  having  esoteric  doctrines  which  are 
revealed  only  to  the  initiated.  The  Bektashee  were 
founded  by  Hajji  Bektash  of  Khorassan  (died  1357),  in 
connection  with  the  Janissaries;  and  when  Sultan  Mah- 
moud  put  the  latter  to  the  sword  in  1826,  he  proscribed 
the  former  also.  They  kept  on  increasing,  however,  and 
at  the  present  day  they  are  a  strong  and  very  influential 
order.  They  are  suspected  of  being  freethinkers,  and  are 
generally  regarded  as  infected  with  pantheism.  They 
sympathize  to  a  considerable  extent,  certainly,  with  the 
heretical  Shiites,  or  Persian  sect  of  Mohammedans,  in 
common  with  whom  they  reverence  the  memory  of  Ali, 
and  bemoan  on  the  loth  of  Moharrem  the  death  of  Hu- 
sein  at  Kerbela.  The  members  of  this  order  arc  drawn 
from  the  upper  or  educated  classes,  and  represent  in 
general  the  liberal  and  progressive  elements.  Some  of 
them  are  even  in  favor  of  educating  and  emancipating 
women.  The  son  of  one  of  their  sheikhs  took  me  into 
what  I  may  call  the  chapel  of  his  tekkc,  or  convent, 
which  was  a  rude  room  with  sheepskins  around  the  walls 
for  seats,  and  at  one  end  a  few  candlesticks,  censers,  and 
the  like.  Here,  he  told  me,  they  conducted  services  of 
prayer  and  preaching.  According  to  him,  they  are  mys- 
tics, believing  in  direct  communion  of  the  soul  with  God, 
and  discarding  all  intermediaries,  which  is  theoretically 
true  of  all  Mohammedans. 

Every  one  has  heard  of  the  howling  dervishes  (Rufa'- 
ee), and  knows  something  about  their  religious  services 
or  performances.  They  are  one  of  the  regular  sights  of 
Constantinople.  Their  most  important  tekke  is  on  the 
Asiatic  side  of  the  Bosphorus,  at  Scutari.  Here  they 
hold  a  service  every  Thursday  afternoon  at  the  hour  of 


56  NIPPUR. 

prayer.  First  the  dervishes  sit  on  their  sheepskins  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  railed  enclosure,  which  occupies  the 
larger  part  of  the  room,  reciting  their  common  prayer,  a 
chapter  of  the  Koran,  the  praises  of  Mohammed,  of  their 
founder  (Rufa'ee,  died  1182),  and  of  former  saints  of  the 
order.  The  old  Sheikh  squats  alone  at  the  other  end  of 
the  room,  facing  them,  with  his  back  toward  a  small 
niche  in  the  southwestern  wall,  which  indicates  the  direc- 
tion of  Mecca.  In  and  about  this  niche  hang  various 
weapons,  axes,  swords,  and  knives,  relics  of  deceased 
members,  and  formerly  used  for  purposes  of  religious 
self-torture.  Not  very  many  years  since,  the  dervishes  of 
this  tekke  were  wont  to  burn  themselves  with  hot  irons, 
and  cut  and  gash  themselves  with  sharp  weapons,  as  part 
of  their  religious  ceremonial. 

After  the  initial  prayers  were  completed,  two  of  the 
more  experienced  brethren  were  selected  by  the  Sheikh 
as  the  ministers  or  servants  of  the  occasion,  and  invested 
with  black  stoles  in  token  thereof.  A  number  of  der- 
vishes then  stood  up  in  line;  the  old  Sheikh  took  his 
place  at  one  end  ;  one  singer,  who  was  joined  later  by 
three  or  four  more,  squatted  on  a  sheepskin  in  front  of 
them ;  and  the  dancing  and  howling  began.  The  songs 
sung  were  love-songs,  mystically  interpreted  of  the  love 
of  the  soul  to  God,  exactly  as  the  Synagogue,  and,  follow- 
ing it,  part  at  least  of  the  Christian  Church,  interpreted 
Solomon's  Song.  Similarly  a  mystic  use  is  made  of 
drinking-songs,  intoxication  being  allegorically  inter- 
preted as  spiritual  ecstasy.  The  dervish  idea  is  the  idea 
of  love  of  God,  which  is  viewed  in  a  one-sided,  imperfect 
manner,  and  sought  in  ecstasy,  rapture,  passion,  and 
abnormal  excitement.  As  might  be  expected,  the  alle- 
gorical interpretation  of  love  and  intoxication  has  led  in 
certain  orders  to  abuses  and  abominations  such  as  have 
stained  the  record  of  some  sects  of  Christian  mystics.  So 
the  Bektash  dervishes  are  said  to  indulge  in  wild  orgies 


IMPRESSIOA'S  OF   COXSTAXTIXOPLE.  57 

in  their  zikr  or  ritual,  and  especially  to  employ  intoxi- 
cants and  hasheesh  to  bring  on  the  ecstasy.  They  inter- 
pret actual  intoxication  mystically,  while  the  Rufa'ee  and 
others  merely  put  an  allegorical  interpretation  upon  songs 
about  intoxication. 

While  these  love-songs  were  being  sung,  the  line  of 
dervishes  was  grunting  and  snorting,  for  so  only  can  these 
peculiar  sounds  be  described,  the  Mohammedan  formula, 
"  There  is  no  God  but  God,"  accompanying  the  words  by 
a  double  movement  of  the  body,  a  swaying  forward  and 
backward,  and  a  limping,  stamping,  side  movement  with 
the  feet.  Their  motions  and  utterances  kept  increasing 
in  rapidity.  The  ministers  relieved  them  of  their  outer 
robes,  and  provided  them  also  with  linen  skull-caps  in 
place  of  the  turban  or  fez.  Outsiders  joined  the  per- 
formers, and  danced  and  howled  as  well  and  as  long  as 
they  could,  so  that  they  might  imbibe  some  of  the  spirit- 
ual afflatus.  Two  negroes  took  their  places  near  the 
centre  of  the  line,  whom,  from  their  dexterity  and  en- 
durance, we  judged  to  be  regular  members  of  the  order. 
Little  children  danced  and  howled  in  the  centre  of  the 
room  in  imitation  of  their  elders.  Now  and  then  some 
of  the  outside  performers  dropped  out  exhausted,  but 
more  always  came  in  to  take  their  places,  so  that  with 
the  excitement  the  numbers  increased  also.  The  pe- 
culiar limping  character  of  this  portion  of  the  dance,  ac- 
companying the  vehement  shouting  of  the  name  of  God, 
may  well  be  compared  with  the  dance  and  prayer  of  the 
priests  of  Baal  (i  Kings,  xviii.,  26,  the  literal  rendering 
of  the  last  clause  of  which  seems  to  be,  "  And  they 
limped  about  the  altar  which  had  been  made  "). 

After  the  dancers  had  become  sufficiently  excited,  at 
a  given  signal  the  limping,  swaying,  movement  stopped; 
and  all  began  to  bob  very  violently  up  and  down  without 
quite  lifting  their  bare  feet  from  the  floor,  flinging  their 
heads  wildlv  from  side  to  side,  often  with  hideous  con- 


.■58  KIP  PUR. 

tortions  of  countenance  and  ecstatic  grimaces.  At  the 
same  time  they  uttered  what  seemed  to  be  inarticulate 
sounds.  This  was  ecstasy.  The  singers  in  front  chanted 
■even  more  wildly ;  a  blind  beggar  who  was  bobbing  up 
•and  down  on  the  right  of  the  line  shouted,  "  The  gates 
of  heaven  t  "  "  Put  love  in  him  !  "  "  Do  it  with  love  1  ' '  and 
•other  similar  alleluias  and  fervid  ejaculations;  and  the  be- 
lievers were  greatly  edified,  but  the  unbelieving  said  that 
they  were  mad.  In  justice  to  the  dervishes  themselves, 
I  ought  to  add  that  they  tried  hard  to  suppress  the  alle- 
luia beggar. 

But  the  most  interesting  and  instructive  part  of  the 
service  was  still  before  us.  The  old  Sheikh  now  took  his 
seat  at  the  founder's  place  in  front  of  the  niche,  and  the 
healing  of  the  sick  began.  First  some  clothing  and  a 
bottle  of  water  for  a  sick  person  were  brought  to  him, 
into  which,  after  a  brief  prayer,  he  breathed,  his  breath 
iDeing  sanctified  by  the  frequent  repetition  of  the  name  of 
God.  Then  were  brought  a  number  of  sick  people,  who 
were  made  to  lie  down,  a  few  at  a  time,  on  their  faces 
on  the  wooden  floor,  and  he  walked  slowly  backward  and 
forward  upon  their  bodies.  Some  of  them  were  old  and 
feeble,  and  some  small  children,  but  I  could  not  see  that 
any  suffered  the  least  pain  from  the  operation.  The 
children  of  the  neighborhood  regard  it  as  great  fun,  and 
are  always  on  hand  to  be  walked  over  as  many  times  as 
the  ministers  will  permit.  Occasionally  the  Sheikh  sought 
to  effect  a  cure  by  merely  breathing  upon  the  patient; 
and  not  a  few  were  passed  along  the  line  of  dervishes, 
still  grunting  and  bobbing  up  and  down,  to  be  breathed 
upon  by  all.  Indeed,  mere  presence  in  that  atmosphere, 
saturated,  so  to  speak,  with  the  name  of  God,  was  sup- 
posed to  be  a  tonic,  physical  as  well  as  religious.  It  was 
an  unusually  successful  and  enthusiastic  meeting;  and  a 
correspondingly  large  number  of  patients,  some  of  them 
persons  of  position,   presented  themselves  to  be  cured. 


IJ/FA'£SS/OXS   OF   COXSTANTIXOPLE. 


59 


Some  of  these  cases  were  pathetic,  inasmuch  as  the 
patients  were  evidently  grasping  at  this  as  a  drowning 
man  grasps  at  a  straw, — as  a  last,  desperate,  almost  hope- 
less chance. 

Another  order  of  dervashes  well  known  to  strangers  is 
the  Mevlewee,  or  dancing  dervishes.  They  have  a  tekke 
in  the  very  heart  of  Pera,  the  Frank  or  European  quarter 
of  Constantinople,  where  they  dance  every  Friday  after- 
noon. After  prayers  have  been  recited,  a  small  band 
of  flutes,   tambourines,   and   Oriental    drums,    begins  to 


MEVLEWEE  DERVISH    WITH    INVERTED    WATER-BUCKET   IIAT. 

play  in  the  back  gallery,  and  one  or  more  singers  in 
the  same  place  chant  hymns  about  Mohammed,  the 
founder  of  the  order  (Jelal-ed-Deen  Mevlana,  died  1273), 
and  the  saints  that  have  been.  About  the  walls  are 
framed  scrolls  containing  the  names  of  God,  Mohammed, 
the  first  four  caliphs,  Hasan  and  Husein,  and  texts  from 
the  Koran.  The  dervishes  are  within  a  railed  enclosure 
in  the  middle  of  the  room,  about  which  are  places  for 
spectators, — the  men  below,  and  the  women  in  latticed  gal- 
leries above.  At  the  end  toward  Mecca  the  Sheikh  squats 
alone,  in  the  founder's  place;  and  in  front  of  him,  in  a 
semicircle,  as  though  they  were  his  pupils,  sit  the  other 


60  NIPPUR. 

dervishes,  their  backs  against  the  railing.  The  head  of 
each  man  is  surmounted  by  a  high,  rimless  hat  of  a 
coarse,  light-brown  felt,  bearing  some  resemblance  to  an 
inverted  water-bucket.  When,  in  prayer,  all  at  once,  with 
much  noise,  they  cast  themselves  on  their  faces  on  the 
floor,  these  singular  caps  add  greatly  to  the  effect.  The 
floor  within  the  railing  is  inlaid  with  hard,  polished  wood, 
well  adapted  to  dancing. 

The  dance  itself  is  really  a  very  pretty  sight.  All  sol- 
emnly and  very  slowly  march  three  times  around  (dervish 
holy  numbers  seem  to  be  3,  12,  and  looi)  within  the 
enclosure,  headed  by  the  Sheikh.  As  they  reach  the 
founder's  place,  each  in  turn  makes  a  very  low  rever- 
ence with  his  arms  folded  on  his  breast,  then  skips 
across  to  the  other  side  of  the  sheepskin,  and  repeats 
the  reverence  from  that  side,  as  his  successor  is  doing 
the  same  from  the  other  side,  their  high  felt  caps  almost 
meeting  in  the  centre.  The  Sheikh  then  takes  his 
stand  on  his  sheepskin  at  the  founder's  place;  the  rest 
throw  off  their  mantles,  appearing  in  long,  full,  white 
skirts  and  white  jackets  with  long  sleeves,  and,  again 
forming  in  line,  move  slowly  around  the  enclosure  until 
they  reach  the  Sheikh.  Each  in  turn  kisses  his  hand, 
receives  permission  to  dance,  and  twirls  away  from 
the  Sheikh  on  one  side  as  the  next  dervish  approaches 
him  on  the  other.  Barefooted  for  the  most  part,  they 
twirl  on  the  left  foot,  moving  themselves  about  w^ith  the 
right ;  the  arms  are  extended,  the  right  hand  open  upward 
and  the  left  downward ;  the  head  is  dropped  on  the  right 
shoulder,  and  the  eyes  ordinarily  closed.  A  few  twirl 
slowly,  and  without  much  change  of  position,  in  the  cen- 
tre; the  rest  twirl  more  rapidly,  their  full  skirts  extended 
by  the  motion,  moving  in  a  circle  about  the  central 
group.  Each,  therefore,  turns  upon  his  own  axis,  and 
also  revolves  about  a  common  centre.  The  Sheikh 
remains  motionless  in  his  place ;  and  one  master  of  cere- 


IMPRESSIOXS  OF  COXSTAXTIXOPLE.  6 1 

monies,  in  a  long  mantle,  moves  slowly  about  among  the 
dancers  to  see  that  all  is  done  decently  and  in  order. 

After  the  dance  has  lasted  some  five  minutes,  at  a  given 
signal  all  stop  instantly.  Then  they  fall  into  line  once 
more;  each  in  turn  seeks  anew  the  Sheikh's  permission, 
kisses  his  hand,  and  resumes  his  dance  as  before.  This 
also  is  repeated  three  times.  Before  the  end  is  reached, 
some  of  the  novices  become  exhausted ;  they  may  then 
resume  their  mantles,  and  stand  with  the  back  against  a 
pillar  in  a  position  of  meditation  until  the  dance  is  con- 
cluded. After  the  dance  the  music  ceases,  all  resume 
their  cloaks  and  their  places,  and  prayers  are  again 
recited,  this  time  especially  for  the  Sultan.  Then  all 
arise,  the  Sheikh  advances  and  utters  in  a  loud  tone  what 
seems  a  blessing,  all  shout  aloud  a  response,  which  sounds 
like  the  mystic  syllable  Jioo,  the  gate  is  opened,  the 
Sheikh  departs  with  great  solemnity,  and  the  rest  find 
their  shoes  and  scatter  irregularly  as  they  will. 

The  following  year  my  wife  and  I  attended  service  in 
a  less  known  tekke  of  this  order,  in  a  Turkish  quarter  of 
Constantinople,  under  the  escort  of  Bedry  Bey,  who  had 
danced  there  as  a  novice  in  his  youth.  After  the  service, 
although  there  was  a  lady  with  me,  he  introduced  us  to 
the  private  rooms  of  the  dervishes,  where  we  became  the 
guests  of  one  of  them,  who  was  also  chaplain  at  a  military 
hospital.  Besides  the  dervishes,  some  officers  were  pres- 
ent. Cigarettes  and  coffee  were  served ;  and  then  our 
host  took  out  of  his  pocket  a  box  of  hasheesh,  and  served 
out  to  those  who  wished  it  large  balls,  which  they  swal- 
lowed without  ado. 

Our  host  now  proposed  a  visit  to  a  tekke  of  Bedawee 
dervishes  about  half  a  mile  away.  Their  ceremonial  is 
almost  identical  with  that  of  the  Rufa'ee,  but  the  color 
of  their  stoles  and  the  Sheikh's  robe  was  red  instead  of 
black.  The  shouting  and  dancing  were,  if  anything, 
more  excited  and   violent    than    those    of    the    Rufa'ee, 


62  NIPPUR. 

which  I  have  already  described.  They  also  are  supposed 
to  possess  the  power  of  healing,  both  by  treading  and 
breathing;  and  the  crowd  which  came  to  be  trodden  and 
breathed  upon,  or  brought  clothing  and  water-bottles  ta 
be  breathed  into,  was  even  larger  than  that  which  I  had 
seen  at  the  Rufa'ee  tekke.  One  of  the  dancing  der- 
vishes who  had  accompanied  us  went  into  the  enclosure, 
and  danced  his  peculiar  silent,  twirling  dance,  while  the 
Bedawee  were  shouting  and  jumping.  The  other,  our 
imam,  or  chaplain  friend,  told  me  afterward  that  he  had 
called  earnestly  upon  God  for  inspiration  to  do  the  same, 
but  it  had  been  denied  him. 

After  the  ceremonies  were  concluded,  we  were  taken 
into  the  dervishes'  parlor  to  drink  coffee  and  smoke 
cigarettes.  Here  our  Mevlewee  friend  insisted  upon 
abasing  himself,  kissing,  among  other  things,  the  dusty 
toes  of  my  shoes,  in  order  to  show  that  he  was  a  servant 
of  every  servant  of  God,  by  whatever  name  he  called 
himself.  He  told  me  that  the  time  would  come  when 
his  religion  and  mine  would  be  one,  or  rather  when  both 
would  be  lost  in  one  all-true  religion  of  the  knowledge 
and  love  of  God.  ]\Ien  should  not  quarrel  and  fight 
because  of  differences  of  belief,  he  said,  but  love  one 
another.  In  that  way  the  prevalence  of  truth  would  be 
hastened. 

The  object  of  the  dervish  is  to  attain  to  a  mystical, 
spiritual  communion  with  God, — an  end  which  he  often 
seeks  by  grossly  mechanical  and  physical  means.  His 
watchwords  are  obedience  and  love.  As  a  part  of  the 
discipline  necessary  to  the  higher  life,  he  practises  asceti- 
cism and  even  bodily  torture ;  but  in  many  particulars  his- 
asceticism  is  different  from  the  monasticism  of  Buddh- 
ism, or  the  Roman  and  Greek  churches.  Celibacy  is. 
not  necessary;  indeed,  all  the  sheikhs  or  abbots  of  whom 
I  know  are  married,  and  in  many  orders  the  post  of 
sheikh  is  hereditary.      So,  also,  the  other  members  of  the 


iMFiiESsio::s  of  coxstaxtixople.  63: 

order  do  not  necessarily  dwell  together  in  the  cloister,  nor 
wear  a  distinctive  dress;  they  are  not  obliged  to  forsake- 
the  ordinary  avocations  of  life ;  and  their  connection  with 
the  order  may  be  severed  at  will.  As  to  their  private- 
life,  one  hears  the  same  charges  which  were  made  so  fre- 
quently against  the  monks  of  the  Middle  Ages,  but  it  is. 
especially  the  wandering  beggar  dervishes  against  whom 
these  charges  are  made.  Among  the  people  at  large  the 
dervishes  enjoy  a  very  high  reputation  for  sanctity. 
They  correspond  in  many  particulars  to  the  prophets  in 
Old  Testament  times. 

Like  all  visitors  to  Constantinople,  I  felt  upon  my  first 
arrival  in  that  city  as  though  everything  were  topsy- 
turvy. It  seenied  to  me  that  people  took  pains  to  do 
things  in  a  way  just  the  opposite  to  that  in  which  we  are 
in  the  habit  of  doing  them.  If  I  wished  to  beckon  some 
one,  and  beckoned  to  him  with  my  finger  with  the  hand 
upturned,  I  was  doing  what  corresponds  with  us  to  put- 
ting your  fingers  to  your  nose  and  waving  them.  You 
must  be  careful  in  beckoning  to  turn  the  hand  downward. 
If  some  one  begged  of  me  on  the  street,  and  I  shook  my 
head  at  him,  it  meant,  not  "  no,"  but  "  I  do  not  under- 
stand." To  say  "  no,"  you  throw  your  head  backwards, 
and  cluck.  If  you  wish  to  call  a  dog,  you  do  not  whistle, 
but  chirrup.  If  you  wish  to  stop  a  horse,  you  hiss  at, 
him.  Of  course,  when  you  enter  a  mosque,  you  take  off 
your  shoes  and  keep  on  your  hat,  and,  if  you  would  follow 
Turkish  use,  the  same  should  be  done  in  entering  a. 
house.  If  you  meet  a  friend,  you  do  not  bow,  or  touch 
your  hat,  or  even  shake  hands  with  him,  but  make  three 
motions  with  your  hand, — one  downward  toward  the 
ground,  one  toward  the  mouth,  and  one  upward  to  the 
forehead.  It  is  the  pretense  of  taking  up  the  hem  of  his 
robe,  kissing  it,  and  touching  it  to  your  forehead.  If  the 
person  whom  you  salute  be  of  high  rank,  then  you  bow 
low,  almost  to  the  ground,  in  making  the  salutation.      If 


64 


NIPPUR. 


he  be  of  inferior  rank,  you  remain  erect,  and  make  a 
rapid  pass  with  your  hand,  including  tlie  three  motions 
in  one.  According  to  the  rank  of  the  person  whom  you 
meet,  you  make  a  salutation  anywhere  between  the  two 
extremes. 

But  these  are  only  small  things  and  among  the  least 
peculiar  of  those  which  the  new-comer  to  Constantinople 
observes.  Something  more  amazing  is  the  way  in  which 
everything  is  carried  on  men's  backs.     The  greater  part 


ARMENIAN   PORTERS    CARRYING    LARGE   CASES    OF    GOODS. 


of  the  streets  in  Constantinople  are  not  broad  enough  for 
the  passage  of  carriages,  and  even  one  loaded  horse  or 
mule  takes  up  almost  the  entire  roadway.  If  you  buy  a 
piano  in  Constantinople,  it  is  more  likely  than  not  to 
come  home  on  a  man's  back.  One  day  I  met  a  porter 
carrying  a  good-sized  marble  column,  and  a  few  moments 
later  another  passed  me  carrying  a  coffin.  When  the  cold 
weather  set  in  suddenly,  as  it  did  by  the  middle  of  Octo- 
ber,  you   could   see   processions  of  men  carrying  stoves 


IMPJiESSIONS  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  65 

through  the  streets  on  their  backs.  Once  I  met  a  man 
carrying  an  iron  safe  about  three  feet  square.  The  men 
who  perform  these  feats  are  Armenians,  who  come  from 
various  parts  of  Asia  Minor  and  Roumeha,  and  labor  at 
the  trade  of  porter  until  they  have  saved  enough  money 
to  go  home  and  buy  a  house  in  their  native  town.  They 
are  organized  in  guilds.  The  heavy  loads  are  supported 
upon  an  odd-shaped  saddle  which  they  wear  on  their 
tacks,  and  here  and  there  in  the  streets  you  will  notice 
platforms  meant  for  their  convenience  in  resting  their 
loads. 

The  fire  department  of  Constantinople  also  arrests  the 
attention  of  the  traveller.  The  greater  part  of  the  city  is 
built  of  wood,  and  terrible  conflagrations  are  of  frequent 
occurrence.  In  the  European  suburb  of  Pera  the  Gov- 
ernment is  said  to  set  many  of  the  fires  itself,  as  the  easi- 
est way  of  clearing  out  old  rubbish,  with  the  intention  of 
laying  out  broader  and  straighter  streets.  There  is  a 
■constant  watch  kept  on  the  summit  of  the  old  Genoese 
tower  in  Galata;  a  similar  watch  is  kept  on  the  tall  tower 
of  the  Seraskierat  in  Stamboul,  and  another  on  a  hill 
behind  Candili,  one  of  the  Asiatic  suburbs,  a  few  miles 
up  the  Bosphorus.  From  this  latter  place  a  cannon  is 
fired  to  give  warning  of  a  fire.  The  Government  is  try- 
ing to  organize  a  fire  department  on  European  models, 
but  I  never  saw  anything  in  use  excepting  the  old  hand 
fire-engines.  These  are  ^nothing  but  little  hand-pumps, 
which  are  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  four  men.  They 
are  surrounded  by  a  guard  of  about  twenty  almost  naked 
wild  fellows,  who  relieve  the  bearers  from  time  to  time. 
These  run  through  the  streets  at  top  speed,  without  any 
regard  for  the  unfortunates  who  may  be  in  their  road. 
Arrived  at  the  place  of  the  fire,  I  am  told  that  they  do 
more  harm  than  the  fire  itself,  like  the  old  volunteer  fire 
department  which  existed  in  New  York  when  I  was  a 
boy.    If   the  fire  be  at  night,   a  bekjee  comes  under  your 

VOL.  1—5 


66  NIPPUR. 

window,  strikes  with  his  iron  staff  on  the  pavement,  and 
cries  out  "  Fire!  "  in  such  and  such  a  quarter.  It  is  rather 
aggravating  to  be  waked  up  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing to  learn  that  there  is  a  fire  in  some  Asiatic  suburb  of 
the  city  eight  or  ten  miles  away.  But  the  bekjees  are  a 
nuisance  altogether.  They  walk  the  streets  all  night 
long,  rapping  their  staffs  on  the  pavement  to  warn  rob- 
bers that  there  is  some  one  about,  so  that  they  may  take 
good  care  to  get  out  of  the  way.  Until  you  are  used  to 
them,  you  are  apt  to  be  waked  many  times  during  the 
night ;  and  each  time  they  pass  through  your  street  all 
the  dogs  wake  up  and  bark  at  them. 

It  should  not  be  understood  that  the  only  sights  in 
Constantinople  are  those  which  are  curious.  The  natural 
beauties  of  its  situation  are  almost  unsurpassed,  although 
the  streets  of  the  city  itself  are  poor  and  squalid.  Sancta 
Sophia  is  not  inferior  in  grandeur  and  interest  to  any 
building  in  the  world,  and  many  of  the  mosques  of  Con- 
stantinople are  wonderfully  attractive.  But  the  object  of 
this  chapter  is  to  describe  the  impressions  made  upon  me 
in  my  first  visit,  and  not  to  write  a  guide-book  to  the 
beauties  and  antiquities  of  Constantinople. 

During  the  first  part  of  our  stay  in  Constantinople  the 
weather  was  often  uncomfortably  warm,  both  in  and  out 
of  doors;  but  about  the  middle  of  October  a  sudden 
change  occurred,  and  from  that  time  on  we  suffered  as 
much  with  the  cold  as  we  had  before  suffered  with  the 
heat.  It  was  the  temperature  within  doors,  however, 
which  caused  the  suffering,  rather  than  that  without.  No 
provision  is  made  for  heating  the  houses,  few  of  which 
have  chimneys,  excepting  possibly  for  kitchen  use.  If 
you  wish  to  put  a  stove  in  your  house,  you  must  run 
the  stove-pipe  out  of  the  window,  or  cut  a  hole  for  it  in 
your  house  wall.  Coal  is  very  bad  and  very  expensive, 
and  wood  is  the  same.  The  ordinary  means  of  heating 
rooms  is  the   mangal,    or  charcoal  brazier.      The   ther- 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  6j 

mometer  in  our  rooms  often  fell  to  50°,  and  never  rose 
above  57°  or  58°.  I  noticed  it  the  more,  as  I  was  engaged 
at  the  time  on  the  translation  for  Sci-iptiircs,  Hebrew 
and  Christian,  of  the  Book  of  Job  (a  most  appropriate 
task,  my  friends  assured  me),  and  wished  to  be  much  at 
my  desk.  Prince  found  the  climate  very  trying,  and  was 
under  the  doctor's  hands  most  of  the  time;  and  we  were 
both  glad  to  leave  Constantinople  at  last. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   DISCOVERY   OF   TIPHSAH. 

Smuggling  by  Order  of  the  Grand  Vizier — Pack-Mules  to  Beylan — A  Filthy 
Khan — Unexplored  Ruins — Simon  Stylites — Stone  Fields — Aleppo — 
Known  to  Assyrians  and  Hebrews — Turkish  Currency — Our  Caravan — 
A  Cone  Village — Ruins  of  Aleppo  Plain — Conical  Tels — Flogging  a 
Muleteer — The  Euphrates — A  World  Road — Euphrates  Exploration — 
Meskene  and  Barbalissus — Pethor  and  Balaam — A  Horse  Fight — Kal- 
'at  Dibse — Thapsacus,  or  Tiphsah — Story  of  Tiphsah. 

IT  was  Saturday,  December  1st,  when  we  left  Con- 
stantinople. On  board  we  found  a  motley  party: 
the  cabin  was  Babel,  but  the  deck  was  pandemonium. 
There  the  people  camped  out,  spreading  their  bedding 
on  the  floor,  and  preparing  their  meals  from  material 
brought  with  them.  There  were  a  number  of  Turks  and 
a  few  Jews,  but  the  great  mass  of  the  deck  passengers 
were  Russian  pilgrims  on  their  way  to  Jerusalem.  These 
people  were  vilely  dirty,  shock-headed,  and  forbidding- 
looking.  They  were  packed  so  close  that  they  actually 
touched  one  another,  and  movement  seemed  impossible. 
A  number  of  them  were  in  the  hold,  and,  looking  at  them 
through  the  hatchway,  it  seemed  as  though  they  must 
have  been  pitchforked  in,  and  fallen  together  in  one 
tangled  heap.  How  the  ship  was  worked,  it  was  difificult 
to  understand;  for  it  was  almost  impossible  to  pass  from 
one  portion  of  the  deck  to  another,  the  crowd  was  so 
dense.  The  filth  of  these  people  and  of  the  deck  was 
something  awful. 

68 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF    TIPHSAH. 


69 


Monday  morning,  the  3d,  we  awoke  in  the  process  of 
coming  to  dock  at  Smyrna.  The  next  afternoon  about 
one  o'clock  we  reached  Chios,  When  I  arose  the  follow- 
ing morning,  we  were  off  Rhodes;  and  at  sunset  we  had 
just  passed  Kastelorhyzo  or  Meis,  the  ancient  jMegiste. 
The  next  morning  when  I  went  on  deck,  we  were  passing 
the  little  village  of  Kharadran  in  Cilicia.  east  of  the  Gulf 
of  Addalia.  All  day  long  Cyprus  was  visible  in  the  dis- 
tance to  our  right.  At  10.30  we  rounded  Cape  Anamur 
quite  closely.     On  the  east  side  of  the  cape,  at  its  ex- 


TURKISH    DECK    PASSENGERS. 

treme  end,  was  the  wall  of  an  old  acropolis;  and  below 
this,  on  the  side  of  the  hill,  quite  extensive  ruins  of 
the  Roman  city  of  Anamurion  were  to  be  seen.  Early 
in  the  afternoon  we  v/ere  opposite  ancient  Celenderis,  of 
which  we  saw  little  or  nothing;  and  a  little  before  sunset 
we  passed  the  ruins  of  Seleucia  Trachzea.  About  ten 
P.M.  we  reached  Alersin.  All  the  next  day  we  were  rolling 
about  in  the  roads  at  that  place,  while  it  rained  dismally. 
It  was  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  December  8, 
1888,  when  our  steamer  cast  anchor  at  Alexandretta,  the 
modern  Iskenderoon ;  and  almost  immediately  afterwards 
Haynes  was  on  board  to  meet   us,   accompanied  by  an 


70  NIPPUR. 

agent  who  was  to  secure  the  passage  of  our  goods  through 
the  custom-house.  This  precaution  was  especially  neces- 
sary at  Alexandretta.  A  discharged  agent  of  the  Ameri- 
can missionaries,  Jebra  Hanna,  had  accused  them  of 
smuggling  arms  and  other  contraband  articles  into  the 
country  :  consequently  the  custom-house  authorities  were 
suspicious  of  Americans.  They  had  actually  searched  the 
persons  of  some  of  those  members  of  the  expedition  who 
had  arrived  earlier,  taking  from  Haynes  a  sealed  letter  of 
introduction,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  defrauding  the 
mails,  and  seizing  various  objects,  including  a  number 
of  cartridge-shells,  bullet-molds,  etc.  It  was  only  the 
shrewdness  of  Noorian  that  saved  from  seizure  the  better 
part  of  our  rifles,  which  had  been  intrusted  to  Haynes  for 
transport. 

The  Grand  Vizier  had  urged  upon  me  the  necessity  of 
carrying  arms,  had  personally  authorized  me  to  carry 
them,  and  had  promised  me  a  written  teskereh,  or  per- 
mission, to  that  effect ;  but  when  the  permit  was  pre- 
pared and  sent  up  for  his  signature,  he  changed  his  mind, 
as  already  narrated,  and  returned  it  unsigned,  with  a 
verbal  statement  that  the  Americans  would  have  no 
trouble,  and  would  know  how  to  pass  the  rifles  through 
the  custom-house.  But,  thanks  to  the  spite  of  this 
discharged  missionary  agent,  the  Americans  did  ha\-e 
trouble,  and  for  a  time  the  rifles  were  obliged  to  remain 
on  shipboard.  Then  they  were  transferred  to  another 
steamer,  whence  Noorian  took  them  in  a  rowboat  late  at 
night.  As  he  was  returning  to  the  shore,  a  custom-house 
wherry,  considering  his  motions  suspicious,  put  out  to 
examine  his  boat.  He  lowered  the  rifles,  wrapped  in 
rubber,  into  the  water,  on  the  shady  side  of  the  boat; 
and  when  the  custom-house  authorities  arrived,  they 
found  nothing  but  a  man  taking  a  row  in  the  moonlight. 
When  the  coast  was  again  clear,  he  hauled  up  the  guns, 
and  carried  them  ashore:  and  that  same  night  his  brother 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF    TIPHSAH.  Jl 

Jeremiah  carried  them  up  the  mountain  on  his  back  to 
Beylan,  where  they  were  handed  over  to  Haynes.  So, 
obeying  the  directions  of  the  Turkish  Government,  given 
through  the  Grand  Vizier,  we  disobeyed  and  evaded  the 
regulations  of  the  Turkish  custom-house. 

In  view  of  this  experience,  I  had  expected  trouble  for 
Prince  and  myself,  but  found  none;  the  agent  passing 
even  our  rifles  through  the  custom-house  without  diffi- 
culty by  means  of  a  ridiculously  small  baksheesh,  some- 
thing which  it  seems  to  be  the  habit  of  the  customs 
employees  to  levy  quite  indiscriminately  on  dutiable  and 
undutiable  objects  alike.  On  the  shore  Xoorian  and  Hil- 
precht  were  awaiting  us;  and  by  ten  minutes  of  twelve 
we  had  repacked  our  effects,  settled  with  the  custom- 
house (from  which  I  tried  in  vain,  by  means  of  an  order 
from  Constantinople,  to  obtain  the  release  of  the  objects 
already  seized),  and  were  ready  to  start  up  the  Amanus 
Mountains,  each  perched  upon  his  pack  on  a  pack-horse 
or  mule. 

There  is  a  good  carriage  road,  well  engineered,  and  for 
the  most  part  in  good  condition,  built  by  French  engi- 
neers, from  Alexandretta  to  Aleppo,  crossing  the  Amanus 
Mountains  through  the  pass  at  Beylan,  and  utilizing  in 
part  the  old  Roman  road ;  and  you  can  hire  a  carriage 
and  drive  the  distance  in  a  day,  or  a  day  and  a  night. 
But  a  carriage  costs  money;  and  Haynes,  to  whom,  as 
being  on  the  spot  and  well  acquainted  with  the  country 
and  its  methods,  such  matters  were  intrusted,  measured 
time  and  money  by  the  Oriental  standard  :  hence  we,  like 
thrifty  Turkish  travellers,  chose  the  three-days'  ride 
rather  than  the  one-day  drive ;  and  perhaps  it  was  as  well 
that  we  should  have  made  acquaintance  with  this  mode 
of  travel  at  the  very  outset.  The  road  winds  up  the 
mountain  side ;  but  we  went  straight  up  on  a  rough  horse- 
track,  thus  shortening  the  distance,  and  saving  the  toll  for 
use  of  the  road. 


72  XIPPUR. 

For  three  hours,  perched  high  on  our  packs,  our  heels 
dangHng  about  the  heads  of  our  beasts,  we  chmbed  up 
that  mountain, — below  us  glorious  views  of  the  dazzling 
blue  ^Mediterranean ;  above  us  towering,  always  more 
eitrantic,  the  brown  masses  of  the  Amanus.  At  last  we 
entered  the  Pass  of  Beylan,  through  which  from  time  im- 
memorial the  armies  of  the  East  and  West  have  marched 
to  conquest  or  disaster.  The  Amanus  IMountains  reach 
at  their  highest  point  a  height  of  1843  metres,  but  the 
pass  at  Beylan  is  not  quite  700  metres  above  sea-level. 
The  village  itself,  chiefly  inhabited  by  Christians,  clam- 
bers picturesquely,  house  above  house,  the  roof  of  one  at 
the  basement  of  another,  up  the  northern  slope  of  a  great 
ravine ;  and  through  it  runs  the  road  by  which  you  may 
cross  these  mountains. 

Here  in  the  stable  of  a  dirty  little  khan  we  found  four 
of  our  horses  awaiting  us,  with  a  couple  of  servants.  In 
less  than  half  an  hour  we  were  under  way  once  more, 
this  time  mounted  on  saddles,  along  the  narrow  road 
partly  cut  out  of  the  mountain  side,  hanging  over  a 
ravine  so  deep  that  we  shuddered  to  think  what  would  be 
the  rider's  fate  should  one  of  our  champing,  plunging 
stallions,  in  his  mad  efforts  to  fight  with  all  the  other 
stallions,  topple  over  the  edge  into  the  abyss  beneath. 
Some  distance  above  Beylan  the  modern  road  leaves  the 
line  of  the  ancient  Roman  military  street;  and  some  dis- 
tance farther  on,  we,  on  our  part,  left  the  former  to  fol- 
low a  short  cut,  supposed  to  be  known  to  Haynes,  down 
the  eastern  side  of  the  mountains  into  the  Antioch  plain, 
leaving  the  pack-animals  to  follow  more  slowly.  We  lost 
the  way,  darkness  settled  down  before  we  reached  the 
plain,  and  it  commenced  to  rain.  However,  there  was 
nothing  for  it  but  to  go  ahead,  although  it  was  pretty 
rough  work  for  both  horses  and  men,  climbing  pathlessly 
down  the  side  of  those  mighty  mountains  in  the  dark  and 
rain, — fair  symbol  of  the  hardships  and  perplexities  which. 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF   TIPHSAH.  75 

partly  through  our  own  fault,  were  destined  to  make  our 
way  difficult  from  first  to  last.  Finally,  about  eight 
o'clock,  we  came  upon  a  bad  stretch  of  the  carriage  road 
leading  across  the  marshes,  and  after  floundering  through 
the  mud  and  rain  for  another  hour,  at  nine  o'clock  we 
reached  our  intended  halting-place  at  ]\Iurad  Pasha  Kyu- 
prissi,  or  Murad  Pasha's  Bridge, — a  stone  bridge  spanning 
the  Kara  Su,  or  Black  Water,  a  few  miles  north  of  the 
point  at  which  it  enters  the  broad  and  marshy  Lake  of 
Antioch,  the  modern  eb-Bahra. 

The  so-called  khan  at  this  point  was  a  low  hut,  reeking 
w'et,  built  of  blocks  of  mud,  by  the  side  of  a  stagnant 
pool  of  water,  with  a  similar  hut  for  the  stable.  In  the 
latter  a  couple  of  men  were  sleeping  on  the  door,  which 
they  had  taken  off  its  hinges,  if  it  ever  had  any,  in  order 
to  keep  dry.  In  the  hut  were  two  rooms,  one  of  which 
we  shared  with  three  or  four  natives.  Here  there  was  a 
fire  of  camel's  dung;  and  great  sacks  of  the  dried  dung, 
which  they  call  coals,  were  piled  up  on  one  side  of  the 
room.  The  smoke  was  stifling,  the  floor  was  mother 
earth,  and  over  my  head  roosted  a  chicken.  Haynes  had 
left  our  beds  here  on  his  way  to  the  coast,  and  the  rest  of 
the  party  quickly  made  use  of  theirs;  but  Haynes  and  I 
sat  up  until  midnight,  waiting  for  the  pack-animals  and 
servants  to  arrive. 

Outside  countless  jackals  howled  incessantly,  and  as  I 
listened  for  the  first  time  to  that  which  was  to  be  my  lul- 
laby for  so  many  months,  I  could  scarcely  believe  that  I 
heard  the  voices  of  four-footed  beasts.  It  was  as  though 
hundreds  of  ill-fed,  ill-housed,  half-human  babies  were 
Aveeping  and  wailing  in  dismal  misery.  One  could  almost 
believe  that  the  graves  had  opened,  and  the  hapless 
infants  of  the  past  were  bemoaning  their  sufferings  once 
more.  Is  it  because  the  jackal  robs  the  graves  of  the 
dead  that  his  note  is  so  weird  and  ghoul-like  ? 

By  six  we  were  up  again,  and  by  eight  we  were  on  our 


74 


NIPPUR. 


march  through  mud  and  a  dense  fog,  with  occasional 
rain,  over  the  plain  southward.  Prince's  horse  had 
broken  down  the  night  before,  and  he,  poor  fellow,  had 
to  remount  a  pack-horse.  At  1 1.35  we  reached  el- Ham- 
mam,  the  hot-springs,  on  the  edge  of  the  eastern  foot- 
hills. Here  Haynes  had  left  his  own  horse,  Sargon,  and 
our  head  man,  Mustafa,  on  his  way  to  the  coast;  and 
here  we  stopped  an  hour  to  lunch  on  black  olives,  bread, 
cheese  and  coffee,  bait  the  horses,  and  make  the  re- 
adjustment required  by  this  addition  to  our  forces.  By 
this  time  the  fog  had  lifted,  and  we  could  see  what  sort 
of  country  we  had  traversed,  and  especially  we  could 
observe  the  great  number  of  mounds  covering  the  sites 
of  ancient  ruins.  Hilprecht  and  I  counted  eighteen 
ruins  within  sight  of  el-Hammam,  some  of  them  of  quite 
considerable  size,  not  one  of  which,  I  believe,  has  ever 
been  touched  by  the  spade  of  the  explorer.  El-Hammam 
itself,  with  its  sulphur  hot-springs,  was  once  a  health 
resort,  but  no  traces  of  ancient  buildings  are  visible  above 
the  ground  at  present. 

Resuming  our  journey,  we  left  the  carriage  road,  and 
took  a  track  through  the  mountains  to  the  southeast, 
passing  around  Jebel  Siman.  About  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon  we  entered  the  vast  stone-fields  which  surround 
this  imposing  mass,  839  metres  above  sea-level,  and  600 
odd  metres  in  apparent  height.  Jebel  Siman,  or  Mt. 
Simon,  is  named  after  St.  Simon  Stylites,  as  being  the 
crreat  mountain  of  the  region  which  Simon  made  famous 
by  his  crazy  conduct,  although  not  the  actual  point  on 
^vhich  his  column  stood.  •  ]\Iohammedans  have  inherited 
his  cult  from  the  Christians,  and  converted  him,  I  believe, 
into  a  saint  of  their  own.  At  all  events,  a  ziara,  or  Mus- 
sulman shrine,  stands  on  the  top  of  the  mountain,  and 
Simon's  name  and  this  locality  are  regarded  with  venera- 
tion. In  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  centuries  this  whole 
region  was  a  favorite  resort  of  ascetics  and  recluses,  and 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF   TIPHSAH.  75 

the  traveller  is  amazed  at  the  number  and  extent  of  the 
ruins  of  monasteries  and  churches  strewn  about  through 
these  apparently  impracticable  stone-heaps.  The  whole 
country  is  one  forbidding  waste  of  desolate  hills  and 
heaps  of  limestone  and  basalt,  broken  up  into  rocks  and 
blocks  of  all  shapes  and  sizes,  so  thickly  strewn  over  the 
ground  that  for  miles  you  can  scarcely  see  an  inch  of  soil. 
And  yet  there  are  ruins  everywhere.  No  civilized  horse 
could  travel  over  such  paths  as  we  traversed,  oftentimes 
consisting  apparently  of  nothing  but  great  awkward  bowl- 
ders, with  deep  holes  between,  the  whole  rendered  doubly 
slippery  by  the  drizzle  which  began  toward  nightfall. 

Shortly  after  dark,  having  just  crossed  an  unusually 
impossible  hill,  we  found  ourselves  in  a  cultivated  plain, 
by  far  the  largest  oasis  we  had  yet  seen  in  the  wilderness, 
containing  several  villages,  the  most  important  of  which 
was  Dana.  Leaving  this  to  our  right,  and  passing  Hasra, 
or  Hasrin,  we  finally  halted  at  the  little  village  of  Tur- 
manin,  where  a  very  respectable  room  in  an  apparently 
uninhabited  house  was  placed  at  our  disposal.  As  we 
were  at  prayers,  for  it  was  Sunday  night,  several  villagers 
came  in ;  and  one  old  man,  the  head  of  the  village,  I 
believe,  set  a  dish  of  curdled  goat's-milk  before  us,  which 
Noorian  told  me  it  was  my  duty  to  accept,  eat  with  much 
relish,  and  pay  for.  This  was  the  first  of  a  long  series  of 
sacrifices  of  my  palate  and  digestion  to  the  demands  of 
hospitality  and  politeness  which  I  was  destined  to  make. 

The  next  morning  we  were  up  at  3.30;  and  at  5.30, 
in  pitch  darkness,  we  were  following  a  guide  over  the 
same  dreary,  impracticable  stone-heaps  which  we  had 
traversed  the  day  before.  It  was  cold,  and  rain  fell  at  in- 
tervals. Altogether  we  were  very  uncomfortable.  Here 
and  there  in  the  road  we  found  stone-cut  cisterns,  most 
if  not  all  of  which  were  manifestly  ancient  rock-cut  tombs 
converted  into  cisterns  in  modern  times.  We  also  passed 
large  heaps  of  stones  raised  by  travellers.      One  of  these 


'j6  Kir  PUR. 

heaps  once  started,  for  whatever  unknown  reason  it  may 
be,  every  passer-by  reHgiously  adds  a  stone,  so  that  some 
of  them  are  of  great  size.  That  they  possess  a  rehgious 
significance,  Hke  the  sacred  trees,  is  shown  by  the  rags 
of  garments,  and  the  hke,  by  which  those  who  pray  there 
attach  their  prayers,  as  it  were,  to  the  sacred  object. 

As  we  neared  Aleppo, — Haleb,  the  natives  caU  it, — the 
stones 'with  which  the  surface  of  the  ground  was  covered 
grew  smaller,  and  the  earth  more  abundant,  until  at  last 
we  found  ourselves  on  a  stony  plateau  about  375  metres 
above  sea-level.  At  precisely  noon  we  reached  our  des- 
tination, having  made  the  journey  from  Alexandretta  in 
forty-eight  hours  and  ten  minutes. 

Harper  and  Field  were  awaiting  us  at  the  Hotel  Azi- 
zieh,  a  little  Armenian  hostelry,  then  a  new-  experiment 
in  Aleppo,  w^here  nothing  of  the  kind  had  ever  been  seen 
before.  Hilprecht,  Prince,  Noorian,  and  I  took  up  our 
quarters  in  the  same  place ;  and  Haynes  was  accommo- 
dated at  the  house  of  Dr.  Graham,  a  medical  missionary 
of  the  A.B.C.F.M.,  who,  with  his  charming  wife,  ren- 
dered us  many  valuable  services.  For  an  Oriental  city, 
Aleppo  is,  in  comparison  especially  with  Damascus  and 
Baghdad,  a  progressive  and  enterprising  place.  There  is 
an  aspect  of  alertness  and  energy  about  the  people,  in 
refreshing  contrast  with  the  torpor  and  indolence  of  the 
southern  Syrians  and  Mesopotamians.  A  common  pro- 
verb says,  El-Halcbi  chelcbi  ("  The  man  of  Aleppo  is  a 
gentleman  "). 

The  element  of  the  mixed  population  most  in  evidence 
is  the  Armenian,  presumably  because  it  is  the  most 
asfsrressive  and  active  element.  The  usual  unsanitarv 
conditions  of  Oriental  cities  prevail  in  Aleppo.  The 
sewers,  such  as  exist,  are  open  gutters  through  the  mid- 
dle of  the  street.  Close  to  Dr.  Graham's  house  was  an 
old  Armenian  cemetery,  surrounded  thickly  by  houses 
on  all  sides.     The  stones  all  lie  flat;  the  Mussulmans  not 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    TIPHSAH.  77 

allowing  Christians  to  be  buried  with  upright  head-stones, 
an  honor  reserv^ed  for  the  faithful.  \\'ith  a  thrift  and 
economy  somewhat  inconsistent  with  our  ideas  of  rever- 
ence, this  old  cemetery  was  utilized  by  the  principal 
industry  in  the  neighborhood,  and  dye-stuffs  and  blue 
and  purple  yarn  were  spread  out  on  the  tombstones  to 
dry.  There  is  a  thriving  trade  in  forged  antiquities  at 
Aleppo,  including  cuneiform  inscriptions  and  Assyrian 
and  Babylonian  cylinders,  as  we  soon  learned  to  our  cost. 
Harper  had  a  small  collection  of  these  antiquities  await- 
ing our  arrival,  which  we  purchased  at  a  low  price,  after 
Hilprecht  and  I  had  also  looked  at  them.  They  turned 
out  to  be,  almost  if  not  quite  without  exception,  forgeries. 
Later  they  were  handed  over  to  the  Government,  in  the 
person  of  the  Kaimakam  of  Alexandretta,  and  ought  to 
be  in  the  museum  at  Constantinople,  where  I  have  been 
unable  to  find  them. 

Aleppo  itself  is  an  ancient  city ;  and  presumably  there 
are  real  antiquities  somewhere  under  the  surface,  if  one 
could  only  dig  for  them.  The  city  is  mentioned  in  Egyp- 
tian records  of  the  second  pre-Christian  millennium.  It 
is  also  mentioned  in  the  Assyrian  annals.  Shalmaneser 
II.  (860-824  B.C.)  tells  us  that  the  city  of  Khalman  sur- 
rendered to  him  without  a  siege,  whereupon  he  "  offered 
sacrifices  to  Dadda  (Hadad  Rimmon),  the  god  of  Khal- 
man." Aleppo  seems  to  be  the  Khelam  (Helam)  by  which 
David  and  his  Israelites  defeated  the  Syrians  (2  Sam,  x., 
l^  ff.);  and  the  country  between  Aleppo  and  the  Eu- 
phrates was  known  to  the  Jews  as  Aram  Zobah,  in  distinc- 
tion from  Aram  Naharaim,  east  of  the  Euphrates.  In  the 
Greek  period  the  place  was  called  Beroea,  but  it  regained 
its  old  name  with  the  Arabic  conquest.  It  resisted  the 
crusaders  under  King  Baldwin,  and  fell  twice  before  the 
Mongols.  Its  vicissitudes  have  been  many,  and  its  his- 
tory long.  I  had  no  time  to  explore  for  local  antiquities, 
as  my  business  was  to  leave  the  place  as  quickly  as  pos- 


78  NIPPUR. 

sible;  but,  with  the  exception  of  one  Hittite  and  a  few 
Greek  and  Arabic  inscriptions,  no  traces  of  the  ancient 
city  have  been  found,  excepting  the  citadel.  This  rests 
on  an  artificial  or  partly  artificial  mound,  faced  with 
stone,  which  must  have  been  used  for  the  same  purpose 
for  three  or  four  thousand  years. 

I  had  a  special  letter  from  the  Grand  Vizier  to  the 
Wali  Pasha,  or  Governor-General,  but  the  latter  was  sick. 
Mr.  Poche,  our  consular  agent,  took  our  affairs  in  charge, 
and  speedily  procured  a  buyurultu,  or  special  road  order, 
for  our  party,  commending  us  to  all  officials  in  the  vilayet 
of  Aleppo  (Haleb),  as  also  a  letter  to  the  semi-independent 
Mutessarif  of  Deir  on  the  Euphrates.  The  Wali  also 
sent  four  mounted  zaptiehs,  or  gensdarmes,  to  be  our 
escort;  namely,  a  captain  (or  head  of  a  hundred),  a  ser- 
geant, a  corporal  (or  head  of  ten),  and  a  private.  As  we 
should  be  obliged  to  pay  all  of  these  men  for  their  ser- 
vices according  to  their  rank,  and  feed  them  besides,  we 
objected  to  the  honor  of  such  an  escort,  and  asked  for 
one  private  only,  merely  as  an  evidence  that  we  were 
under  government  protection.  Finally  the  sergeant  was 
omitted  ;  but  our  honorable  rank,  and  the  fact  that  we  had 
brought  a  special  letter  of  commendation  from  the  Grand 
Vizier,  prevented  any  further  reduction. 

It  was  also  necessary  to  provide  ourselves  with  money 
of  the  proper  description  to  circulate  on  our  journey. 
The  standard  coin  in  the  Turkish  Empire  is  the  gold  lira, 
worth  $4.40.  The  coin  of  reckoning  is  the  piastre,  one 
hundred  of  which  nominally  make  a  lira.  But  as  all  silver 
money  in  the  Turkish  Empire  is  at  a  discount,  and  the 
methods  of  counting  differ  greatly,  you  will  not  find  the 
same  estimation  at  any  two  important  cities.  In  Bagh- 
dad the  lira  was  counted  at  102^  piastres,  in  Constanti- 
nople at  about  108,  in  Aleppo  it  was  about  125.  But  not 
only  does  this  bewildering  difference  of  estimation  exist, 
the  coins  in  circulation  in  one  place  will  not  pass  in  an- 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    TIPHSAH.  79 

other.  In  Constantinople  the  common  cohis  were  the 
mejidie,  a  larger  silver  coin  worth  nominally  25  piastres, 
or  quarter  of  a  lira  (/.  c,  $i.io  of  our  money),  but  in 
reality,  while  I  was  in  Turkey,  worth  about  80  cents;  the 
quarter  mejidie,  or  beshlik;  the  piastre  and  double  pias- 
tre, all  of  these  modern  silver  coins;  and  the  para  and 
double  para,  ancient-looking  copper  objects,  having  the 
general  appearance  of  stamped  tin  tokens,  and  worth 
respectively  \  and  \  piastre.  Of  all  these  coins,  only 
the  lira,  the  mejidie,  the  para,  and  the  double  para 
pass  current  in  all  the  provinces.  In  most  parts  of  the 
empire  the  smaller  silver  coins  are  not  to  be  had,  an  in- 
sufficient number  having  been  coined;  and  in  Baghdad, 
for  some  reason,  the  people  will  not  accept  them. 

In  xA-leppo  and  its  neighborhood  there  are  in  circulation 
the  most  curious  and  unhandy  silver  and  copper  coins 
of  large  surface  dimensions,  but  thin,  and  very  often 
made  so  concave  as  to  be  bowl-shaped,  for  greater 
inconvenience.  These  are  all  old,  some  of  them  dating 
back  to  the  sixteenth  century,  or  even  earlier.  They 
have  there,  also,  a  more  modern  looking  coinage,  of 
some  copper  composite,  for  fractions  of  a  para.  Few  of 
these  coins  circulate  in  Baghdad  or  Constantinople.  In 
other  parts  of  the  empire  the  lack  of  small  currency  is- 
supplied  by  the  use  of  foreign  coins.  In  Baghdad  the 
silver  coins  in  common  use  are  the  Indian  rupee  and  the 
Turkish  keran,  and  their  denominations.  In  Palestine 
you  meet  Egyptian  copper.  Here  and  there  in  the 
interior  you  meet  the  Austrian  thaler  of  Maria  Theresa. 
Along  the  coast  you  meet  francs  of  every  nation  in  the 
Latin  union,  but  especially  France;  and  everywhere  you 
are  apt  to  be  served  with  foreign  gold  coins,  French 
Napoleons,  English  pounds  or  Russian  imperials,  the 
Turkish  gold  coinage  being  almost  as  insufficient  as  its 
silver.  Checks  do  not  exist ;  paper  money  of  the  Imperial 
Ottoman   Bank  is  available  only  where  said  bank  has  a 


80  NIPPUR. 

branch  ;  and  you  are  compelled  to  carry  what  you  need  in 
hard  cash,  and  in  denominations  suited  to  your  wants,  as 
well  as  to  the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  community.  Change 
being  so  scarce,  and  so  difficult  to  obtain,  it  follows  as  a 
consequence  that  you  never  can  obtain  it  without  pa}-ing 
for  it.  Even  in  the  shops  where  you  are  a  purchaser  you 
must  make  the  change,  and  often  go  out  on  the  street 
and  pay  one  of  the  numerous  money-changers  having 
stands  there  a  high  commission  for  changing  your  coin 
for  you.  The  item  of  exchange  amounts  to  a  great  deal 
in  a  short  time  under  such  circumstances,  not  to  speak  of 
the  annoyance  of  the  constant  change  of  currency,  and 
the  actual  burden  of  copper  and  silver  which  you  are 
obliged  to  carry,  in  our  case  amounting  sometimes  to  a 
mule-load  or  more. 

Haynes  had  contracted  with  a  muleteer  from  Baghdad 
to  furnish  us  with  the  proper  number  of  animals,  and  to 
be  in  readiness  to  start  Tuesday  morning,  December 
nth;  but  there  were  the  usual  Oriental  delays,  and  it 
was  Thursday  afternoon  before  we  actually  got  under 
way.  Perhaps  it  was  as  well  for  our  comfort  that  we 
were  delayed;  for  during  the  whole  intervening  time  it 
rained  incessantly,  and  often  violently,  and  in  fact  it  was 
raining  when  we  finally  left  Aleppo.-  Our  carav^an  con- 
sisted of  twenty-four  mules  and  pack-horses,  for  which 
we  paid  at  the  rate  of  about  seven  dollars  an  animal  for 
the  month's  journey  to  Baghdad.  W^ith  these  were  nine 
Arab  muleteers,  seven  donkeys,  a  mare,  and  a  dog,  who 
were  included  in  the  contract,  feeding  themselves.  This 
large  number  of  animals  was  necessitated,  first,  by  the  fact 
that  some  of  the  expedition  effects  had  been  purchased 
too  late  to  be  sent  by  the  circuitous  and  very  long  water 
journey  to  Baghdad,  and  must  be  carried  with  us;  and, 
secondly,  by  the  fact  that  the  country  through  which  we 
were  going  was  so  poor,  and  its  poverty  so  emphasized  at 
that  particular  time  by  the  failure  of  crops,  that  we  were 


THE   DISCOVERY  OF    TIPHSAH.  8 1 

compelled  to  carry  with  us  considerable  supplies  of  food 
and  fodder.  Deir,  Anah,  and  Hit  were  the  only  places 
at  which  we  could  rely  on  procuring  anything. 

We  had  with  us  fiv^e  servants  mounted  among  the  packs, 
of  whom  Mustafa,  our  head  man,  was  a  Turk  and  a  Mus- 
sulman, the  rest  being  Armenians.  Nordik,  the  cook,  was 
a  small  man  of  distinctly  Indo-European  type.  Artin  or 
Harootoun  and  Rework  (George)  were  of  the  more  com- 
mon heavy  Semitic  type,  which  furnishes  Constantinople 
alike  with  its  bankers  and  its  porters ;  the  former  fairer, 
the  latter  dark,  and  both  large,  powerful  men.  Hajji  Re- 
work, or  Pilgrim  George,  our  last  man,  was  a  Gregorian 
or  orthodox  Armenian,  while  the  rest  were  Protestants, 
and  had  made  the  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  whence  his 
title  of  Pilgrim.  He  was  distinctly  Mongolian  or  Tartar 
in  type,  of  somewhat  short  and  squat  but  powerful  frame, 
broad  face  and  high  cheek-bones,  with  small,  narrow, 
very  bright  black  eyes,  swarthy  dark  complexion,  and 
coarse  black  hair.  He  was  a  remarkably  intelligent  man, 
and  very  active  and  industrious.  He  followed  us  at  first 
on  foot,  not  having  been  engaged,  but  seeking  employ- 
ment, and  soon  made  himself  so  useful  that  he  was  not 
only  engaged,  but  ultimately  became  my  most  trusted 
servant.  Our  guard  consisted  of  three  handsome,  manly, 
well-mounted  Rurdish  zaptiehs.  We  ourselves  were 
seven  in  number,  all  well  mounted  and  well  armed.  We 
were  consequently  a  large  and  formidable  caravan,  such 
as  individuals  and  small  parties  seek  to  attach  themselves 
to  for  the  sake  of  protection  in  those  insecure  regions. 

It  was  twenty  minutes  past  two  o'clock  on  Thursday, 
the  13th  of  December,  1888,  when  we  finally  made  our 
start  from  Aleppo ;  and  it  was  scarcely  more  than  two 
hours  later  when  we  halted  at  the  village  of  Jebrin.  This 
was  a  cone  village,  containing,  I  suppose,  about  sixty  or 
eighty  families.  Some  of  these  lived  in  a  single  cone 
hut.     The  more  prosperous  a  family  becomes,   the  more 


82  NIPPUR. 

huts  it  builds.  The  house  which  we  occupied  consisted  of 
thirteen  cones,  built  around  a  courtyard,  the  cones  con- 
tiguous to  one  another.  These  cones,  with  the  upper 
portions  joined  by  a  wall,  formed  the  enclosure  on  three 
sides ;  on  the  fourth  was  a  wall  of  field-stones  and  mud. 
The  bases  of  these  cone  huts  are  built  of  stones;  the 
upper  portions,  of  mud  mixed  with  chopped  straw.  The 
village  was  full  of  dogs,  which  ran  from  cone  to  cone  along 
the  walls  between,  barking  at  all  strangers  as  they  passed. 

The  guest-room  assigned  to  us  consisted  of  two  cones, 
between  which  there  was  an  arch  of  stone.  The  walls 
Avithin  were  white-washed,  and  decorated  with  painted  de- 
vices, and  ornaments  made  of  painted  reeds,  feathers,  and 
paper.  On  both  sides  of  the  door  outside,  in  front  of  the 
cones,  were  raised  places  where  the  occupants  slept  in 
summer.  Our  cones  were  further  distinguished  by  pos- 
sessing a  small  stone  pavement  in  front  of  them,  raised 
about  two  feet  above  the  courtyard.  The  other  huts 
were  flush  with  the  mud  of  the  court,  which  was  abun- 
dant and  very  nasty. 

To  the  south  of  Jebrin  a  few  columns  were  visible 
above  the  ground ;  those  on  the  inner  side  of  an  inferior 
sort  of  marble,  those  on  the  outer  of  basalt.  There  were 
large  numbers  of  basalt  troughs  about  the  village,  and 
worked  blocks  of  basalt  had  been  utilized  by  the  natives 
in  building  their  cones  and  the  walls  of  their  courtyards. 
I  observed  three  or  four  interesting  pieces,  including  an 
old  door,  made  entirely  of  basalt,- — keyhole,  bolt  holder, 
and  all.  This  region  is  full  of  remains  scattered  about 
everywhere ;  those  which  are  visible  on  the  surface,  so  far 
as  I  observed,  all  belonging  to  the  late  Greek  or  Byzantine 
period.     Tels  were  to  be  seen  on  all  sides. 

About  half  an  hour  west  of  Jebrin,  and  six  miles  south- 
east of  Aleppo,  is  the  similar  cone  village  of  Nirab.  At 
this  place  there  were  discovered,  in  the  spring  of  1895, 
two  steles  with  Aramaic  inscriptions.     Both  are  tombstone 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  TIPHSAH.  83 

Inscriptions  of  priests  of  Sahar-en-Nirab,  or  the  moon 
god  of  Nirab,  and  both  are  archaic.  This  town  is  men- 
tioned by  Thothmes  III.  in  the  hst  of  conquests  made 
by  him  in  Syria.  Not  only,  therefore,  is  it  an  extremely 
ancient  place,  but  it  has  also  retained  its  present  name 
unchanged  from  the  earliest  times.  Presumably  many  of 
the  other  villages  and  tels  which  abound  in  that  neigh- 
borhood cover  equally  early  remains,  although  the  visible 
antiquities  are  all  of  a  later  period. 

The  next  morning  we  were  up  at  half-past  four ;  but  it 
was  hard  work  to  start  our  large  caravan  promptly,  and 
we  did  not  leave  Jebrin  until  eight  o'clock.  The  first 
village  which  we  passed  was  a  very  small  one,  Umm-el- 
Asaine  by  name.  Shortly  after  passing  this,  Field, 
Noorian,  and  I  made  a  detour  southward  to  the  village 
and  tel  of  Aleb.  Evidently  this  tel  represented  a  ruin  of 
some  place  which  had  existed  during  a  number  of  cen- 
turies. From  its  summit  we  could  still  see  Aleppo  a 
little  to  the  northwest,  while  to  the  north  of  that  agaia 
towered  the  distant  Jebel  Siman.  To  the  south  of  us,, 
not  very  far  away,  lay  the  salt  lake  of  Sabghah,  and 
beyond  this  rose  quite  abruptly  the  range  of  hills  called 
Jebel  Has.  The  people  of  Aleb  said  that  on  the  top  of 
Jebel  Has  there  was  a  plateau  with  farms  and  cultivated 
lands.  To  the  southeast,  farther  away,  lay  Jebel  Shbeit. 
There  were  innumerable  villages  visible;  and  the  whole 
plain,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  was  sowed  land. 
Only  one  or  two  villages  possessed  a  few  stunted  olive- 
trees.  With  this  exception,  there  was  not  a  tree  in  sight. 
The  villages  were  partly  cone  villages,  and  partly  they 
consisted  of  black,  long,  low  tents,  built  about  with 
brushwood.  These  latter  represented  the  transitional 
state,  where  the  bedouin  were  beginning  to  pass  over 
into  the  condition  of  house-dwellers.  The  land  in  this 
section  belonged,  we  were  told,  to  wealthy  Armenians 
living  in  Aleppo.     The  villagers  were  all  their  tenants. 


84  NIPPUR. 

The  plain  was  dotted  with  tels,  evidences  of  a  much 
larger  and  more  civilized  population  by  which  this  coun- 
try had  once  been  occupied.  The  most  important  of 
these  ruined  mounds  seemed  to  be  Tel  'Aran,  to  the 
southwest,  and  Dhamne  to  the  east,  with  Jebul  to  the 
southeast.  Near  Umm-el-Asaine  we  saw  some  indica- 
tions of  an  insignificant  ruin,  columns  and  blocks  of 
basalt  and  marble,  but  nothing  which  would  indicate  the 
character  or  the  date.  About  mid-day  we  passed  Tel 
Dhamne,  and  about  two  o'clock  we  forded  the  Nahr-edh- 
Dhahab,  or  Golden  River,  quite  a  large  stream.  This  is 
the  Daradax  of  Xenophon,  and  on  this  river  stood  the 
palace  and  "  paradise  "  of  Satrap  Belesis.  One  would 
judge  from  Xenophon's  description  that  in  those  days 
the  country  was  by  no  means  destitute  of  wood,  whereas 
at  the  present  moment  there  are  no  trees  whatsoever, 
with  the  exception  of  the  few  stunted  olives  to  which 
reference  has  been  made.  The  same  process  of  denuda- 
tion probably  took  place  here  which  took  place  in  other 
parts  of  what  is  now  the  Turkish  Empire  even  before  the 
coming  of  the  Turks.  War  and  invasion  resulted  in  the 
destruction  of  forests;  and,  moreover,  the  people  cut 
down  the  trees  for  their  own  use,  without  replanting. 
But  the  final  catastrophe  which  made  this  particular  sec- 
tion utterly  barren  occurred  toward  the  end  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  when  Sultan  Bibars  of  Egypt  (1260-80), 
being  engaged  in  war  with  the  Ilkhans  of  Persia,  "  caused 
all  the  women  and  children  to  be  removed  from  northern 
Syria,  while  the  country  was  laid  waste  from  Aleppo  as 
far  as  Mesopotamia  and  Asia  Minor,  and  the  brush  and 
trees  were  burned,  so  that  the  Mongols  should  find  no 
food  for  themselves  or  shelter  for  their  cattle."  * 

At  the  point  where  we  crossed  the  Xahr-edh-Dhahab 
there  was  a  small  tel,  Oeris,  representing  some  ancient 
city   or   fortress.     About  three  o'clock  we  came  to  Tel 

*  Howorth,  History  of  the  Mongols  from  Ninth  to  Twelfth  Century, 
Part    III. 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  TIPHSAH.  85 

Hamaimeh,  at  the  foot  of  which  was  a  fine  spring.  We 
ascended  this  tel  to  take  observations,  and  an  Arab  of 
the  neighborhood,  seeing  what  we  were  about,  ran  to 
assist  us.  He  supposed,  as  we  soon  ascertained,  that  we 
were  making  observations  with  the  view  of  coming  in 
force  to  dispossess  the  Turks  and  take  possession  of  the 
country.  He  was  a  Moslem  Arab,  but,  hke  all  the 
Arabs,  hated  the  Turks  right  heartily,  and  would  prefer 
the  rule  of  some  Christian  power  to  their  rule. 

We  had  scarcely  passed  Tel  Hamaimeh  when  it  was 
ascertained  that  Haynes  had  left  the  legs  of  his  camera 
behind,  and  a  zaptieh  was  sent  back  to  Aleppo  to  fetch 
them.  About  4.40  we  reached  the  village  of  Deir-el- 
Hafr,  Cloister  of  the  Hoof,  where  there  was  at  the 
time  of  the  Arab  conquest  a  monastery  dedicated  to 
St.  John.  What  ancient  city  may  have  stood  here  I  do 
not  know.  The  present  Deir-el-Hafr  is  a  small  and  very 
dirty  cone  village,  near  a  tel  of  considerable  extent  but 
no  great  height.  These  tels,  generally  of  a  conical 
shape,  are  a  characteristic  feature  of  the  Aleppo  plain, 
and  in  some  parts  of  the  plain  almost  every  village  has 
such  a  tel  in  its  immediate  vicinity.  Possibly  the  curious 
tel  still  used  as  a  citadel  at  Aleppo  may  furnish  an  expla- 
nation of  their  meaning  and  origin.  Chesney  describes 
this  as  having  an  oval  base  about  450  by  250  yards.  Its 
height  is  nearly  two  hundred  feet,  and  it  is  chiefly  arti- 
ficial, having  its  lower  slopes  faced  with  stone.  The  cita- 
del on  this  cone  dates  in  the  main  from  the  times  of  the 
crusaders,  but  it  appears  certain  that  the  tel  itself  is  far 
more  ancient,  and  that  it  was  originally  built  as  an  arti- 
ficial hill  to  contain  the  acropolis  of  the  city.  According 
to  the  Arabic  historians,  it  stood  outside  of  the  city  at  the 
time  of  the  conquest.  From  the  same  source  we  learn 
that  at  that  time  the  tel  now  included  in  the  small  town 
of  A'zaz,  about  twenty  miles  north  of  west  from  Aleppo, 
was  the  citadel  of  that  place. 

Several  caravans  which  had  followed  us  from  Aleppo 


86  NIPPUR. 

with  the  purpose  of  securing  the  protection  of  our  pres- 
ence on  the  road  to  Baghdad — among  them  an  official  with 
the  rank  of  kaimakam  on  his  way  to  his  post  at  or  near 
Busrah,  and  a  wealthy  Baghdad  murderer  who  trax'cllcd 
in  a  litter — were  already  there  before  us;  and  although 
our  Yuz-Bashi,  or  captain,  went  ahead  and  exercised  his 
authority  among  the  inhabitants,  we  could  secure  no  good 
place  to  spend  the  night.  The  Baghdad  murderer,  as  we 
learned  his  history  a  little  later,  had  caused  a  certain  gay 
young  English  Lothario  in  Baghdad,  who  had  done  his 
honor  an  injury,  to  be  assassinated  by  night  in  the 
suburbs  of  that  city.  For  this  he  had  been  tried  and  ac- 
quitted ;  but  the  English  Government  had  prosecuted 
the  case  relentlessly,  taking  it  from  court  to  court,  until 
the  poor  murderer's  funds,  or  rather  those  of  his  mother, 
were  almost  entirely  exhausted.  He  had  just  been  ac- 
quitted at  the  court  of  last  resort  in  Constantinople,  and 
Avas  on  his  way  back  in  triumph,  impoverished  but  vindi- 
cated. 

We  spent  the  night  in  two  very  small  and  very  dirty 
cone  huts, — four  of  us  in  one,  and  three  in  another.  The 
fleas  were  countless.  During  the  night  an  attempt  was 
made  by  the  villagers  to  steal  from  both  our  huts,  but  with~ 
out  success,  thanks  to  the  fleas,  which  kept  us  wakeful. 
We  were  up  before  half-past  four,  glad  of  the  prospect  of 
continuing  our  journey.  It  was  raining  hard.  Our  huts 
were  flush  with  the  mud  outside;  and  as  the  rain  fell 
faster  and  faster,  the  mud  began  to  flow  inside.  The 
muleteers  did  not  wish  to  start.  The  Kaimakam  and  the 
Baghdad  murderer  were  also  opposed  to  starting,  and 
used  their  moral  influence  with  our  guards  to  induce  them 
to  take  the  same  view  of  the  situation.  As  the  next  day 
was  Sunday,  we  had  intended  to  spend  it  at  rest.  They 
thought  that  we  might  just  as  well  stay  Avhere  we  were, 
and  rest  the  Saturday,  instead  of  travelling  in  the  rain.  I 
gave  imperative  orders  to  start,  and  to  start  at  once,  but 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF  TIPHSAH.  87 

no  progress  was  made.  A  portion  of  the  mules  had  dis- 
appeared. It  turned  out  finally  that  there  was  a  large 
cave  under  the  village,  which  was  sometimes  used  as  a 
stable  by  the  inhabitants ;  and  into  this  a  portion  of  our 
mules  had  been  driven  among  the  mules  of  the  natives. 
At  length  Noorian  and  the  Yuz-Bashi  took  the  muleteer 
whose  mules  were  missing,  and  flogged  him  until  he  was 
slad  to  brino;  them  forth.  It  was  our  first  conflict  with 
muleteers,  and  the  method  in  which  we  won  the  victory 
seemed  to  me  shocking.  I  was  afraid  that  there  would 
be  bad  blood  between  us  and  the  muleteers  from  that 
time  on.  In  reality,  the  muleteer  who  got  the  flogging 
seemed  to  appreciate  it  thoroughly,  and  was  a  good  and 
serviceable  and  willing  servant  the  rest  of  the  way  to 
Baghdad. 

It  was  not  until  ten  minutes  before  ten  that  we  made 
our  final  start  that  morning.  About  mid-day  we  passed 
into  the  real  desert.  Before  this  we  had  travelled  between 
ploughed  fields.  Now  civilization  ceased  altogether.  There 
were  no  more  villages,  and  such  evidences  of  habitation 
as  we  saw  were  in  the  shape  of  black  camel's-hair  tents; 
for  the  Anazeh  Arabs  roam  through  this  region,  going 
north  and  south.  About  one  o'clock  we  stopped  for 
lunch  at  Tel  Gamgum,  about  which  there  were  evidences 
in  the  shape  of  smaller  mounds  of  former  settlements, 
but  not  of  any  importance.  An  hour  later  we  reached 
the  Mehdub,  where  were  the  remains  of  large  barracks, 
built  in  the  time  of  Abdul  Aziz,  we  were  told,  to  hold 
the  Anazeh  Arabs  in  check.  About  three  o'clock  we 
began  to  pass  down  a  little  valley  leading  from  the 
plateau  on  which  Ave  had  been  travelling  to  the  Eu- 
phrates. At  3.30  Field  and  I,  who  were  riding  in  advance 
of  the  rest,  caught  sight  of  the  Euphrates. 

Our  excitement  at  the  first  view  of  the  river  was  great. 
We  felt  as  though  our  work  in  Babylonia  had  at  last 
begun.      We  were  on  the  shores  of  the  ereat  historic 


88  NIFPUR. 

river, — The  River  of  the  Hebrews,  which,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Tigris,  had  in  the  course  of  many  centuries  made 
Babylonia,  and  which  was  intimately  associated  with  the 
entire  history  of  the  region  which  we  were  to  explore. 
We  had  entered  the  sphere  of  Babylonian  influence. 
This  river  had  been  the  road  by  which  the  Babylonians 
had  marched  westward,  and  along  which,  at  a  later  date, 
western  armies  had  in  their  turn  marched  into  Babylonia. 

The  valley  of  the  Euphrates  is  to-day  an  avenue  of 
ruins  from  Samosat,  where  it  breaks  through  the  Taurus 
Mountains  and  enters  the  Syrian  plain,  to  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees  and  beyond.  Along  this  ancient  highway,  con- 
necting the  East  and  West,  lie  the  carcasses  of  the  nations 
that  have  traversed  it, — Babylonian,  Assyrian,  Hebrew, 
Persian,  Greek,  Parthian,  Sassanian,  Syrian,  Palmyrene, 
Roman,  Arab,  and  Turk, — carcasses  of  stone  and  brick 
and  clay,  lying  along  its  course,  broken  and  dismembered 
oftentimes,  and  heaped  together  in  inextricable  confu- 
sion, though  ever  and  anon  the  lifeless  body  of  some 
ancient  city  embalmed  in  desolation  still  preserves  its 
shape,  defiant  of  the  hand  of  time. 

Below  Hit,  in  the  alluvial  delta  of  the  two  rivers,  Tigris 
and  Euphrates,  existed  one  of  the  prime\-al  seats  of 
civilization, — one  of  Dame  Nature's  kindergartens  to 
teach  her  children  the  rudiments  of  the  higher  life.  Out 
of  this  valley  westward,  toward  the  fertile  uplands  of 
northern  Syria,  downward  to  the  rich  coast  lands  of  the 
IMediterranean,  outward  to  Cyprus  and  the  Isles,  south- 
ward to  the  rival  valley  of  the  Nile,  the  road  of  com- 
merce and  conquest  had  been  the  Euphrates;  and  for  a 
large  part  of  the  way  the  Euphrates  is  no  more  than  a 
road, — a  narrow  pathway  sunk  one  hundred  or  two  hun- 
dred feet  beneath  the  plateau  of  a  sterile  wilderness 
swarming  with  wild  Arabs.  In  the  earliest  ages  this  was 
the  road  that  led  the  conquerors  out,  and  over  which 
conquest    and    civilization    travelled    westward    hand    in 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  TIPHSAH.  89 

hand.  Later  it  became  the  road  by  which  conquerors 
entered  into  the  very  heart  of  Babylonia.  So  it  was  that 
Babylonian  and  Egyptian,  Syrian  and  Assyrian,  Persian 
and  Greek,  Parthian  and  Roman,  Sassanian  and  Byzan- 
tine, Moslem  and  Christian,  surged  back  and  forth  along 
the  highway  between  the  Eastern  and  the  Western  worlds, 
battling  for  possession ;  while  savage  Arabs  from  the  sur- 
rounding desert  watched  their  opportunity  to  rob,  mur- 
der, and  plunder  the  weak  and  weary  contestants,  and 
themselves  take  possession.  It  is  the  records  of  these 
struggles  that  are  written  in  brick  and  stone  and  mortar 
along  the  shores  of  the  great  river. 

The  Euphrates  now  flows  through  a  dismal  desert, — a 
stream  of  muddy  water,  with  tamarisk  and  poplar  jungles, 
wild  licorice  and  durra  fields,  and  a  few  small  towns  and 
villages,  occupying  a  narrow  deep  depression  in  a  sterile 
treeless  plateau  inhabited  only  by  nomads.  But  this  has 
not  always  been  the  case.  In  ancient  times  Mesopo- 
tamia, from  the  river  Khabor  northward  and  westward, 
seems  to  have  been  fairly  well  wooded,  well  inhabited, 
and  prosperous,  while  the  Syrian  side  of  the  river,  from 
the  bend  by  Barbalissus  and  upward,  was  rich  and 
densely  settled ;  and  even  to  the  south  and  east  of  this 
the  ruins  of  important  cities  may  still  be  found ;  and  the 
Assyrian  annals  tell  of  forests  in  the  same  direction,  rem- 
nants of  which  have  been  but  lately  rediscovered.  In 
times  of  prosperity  and  progress,  and  when  a  strong 
power  controlled  part  or  the  whole  of  the  Euphrates 
valley,  civilization  invaded  the  desert  and  established 
posts  and  roads,  which  checked  and  drove  back  the  Arabs 
and  extended  the  area  of  cultivable  lands,  like  the  roads 
and  stations  between  Palmyra  and  the  Euphrates.  But 
war  and  plunder,  unbounded  and  lawless  self-seeking, 
have  done  their  work ;  and  the  rich  valley  of  the  Eu- 
phrates is  now  almost  uninhabited,  while  the  few  small 
settlements  which  still  exist  are  compelled  for  the  most 


90  NIPPUR. 

part  to  pay  tribute,  or  brotherhood  (kubbe),  as  it  is  called, 
to  the  Arabs  of  the  desert. 

Modern  exploration  of  the  Euphrates  begins  with  the 
year  1835.  In  that  and  the  two  following  years,  and 
again  in  1841,  the  English  Government  undertook  a  sur- 
vey and  the  navigation  of  the  river  with  a  view  to  secur- 
ing a  shorter  route  to  India.  British  steamers  navigated 
the  stream  from  Birejik  downward  to  its  mouth,  and 
back  again  to  Meskene.  "  Iron  swam  on  the  Euphrates," 
as  the  natives  expressed  it,  which  some  ancient  prophet 
had  predicted  as  one  of  the  portents  that  should  precede 
the  overthrow  of  the  Ottoman  dominion.  But  here  the 
English  let  the  matter  rest ;  for  in  course  of  time  the 
Suez  Canal  made  a  Euphrates  valley  railroad  or  a 
Euphrates  line  of  steamboats  unnecessary  from  the 
strategical  point  of  view  of  safe  and  speedy  communica- 
tion with  India,  and  even  deprived  the  Euphrates  of  such 
commercial  importance  to  the  outside  world  as  it  had 
until  then  possessed.  Some  thirty  years  later  the  famous 
and  enterprising  Midhat  Pasha,  while  Governor-General 
of  Baghdad,  perceiving  the  great  importance  of  the  river 
■commercially  and  strategically  as  a  means  of  communica- 
tion between  the  eastern  and  western  portions  of  the 
Turkish  Empire,  endeavored  to  establish  a  regular  steam- 
boat service  upon  its  waters,  and  also  to  hold  the  Arabs 
in  check  by  a  strong  line  of  military  stations.  For  a 
couple  of  years  steamboats  ascended  the  river  annually 
as  far  as  Meskene,  and  it  .seemed  as  though  the  Eu- 
phrates were  about  to  regain  some  part  of  its  ancient 
importance.  But  these  hopes  proved  short-lived :  the 
Russian-Turkish  war  intervened,  and  the  reactionary 
party  gained  the  ascendancy.  Midhat  "  died  "  in  exile 
in  Arabia,  and  the  rest  of  the  Europeanizing  party  apos- 
tatized or  disappeared :  so  the  Euphrates  fell  asleep  once 
more.  To  be  sure,  the  Sultan  as  Sultan  has  granted  to 
the   Sultan  as  private  concessionnaire  the  monopoly  of 


THE   DISCOVERY   OE  TIPHSAH.  9 1 

steam  navigation  on  the  Euphrates  River,  and  a  very  in- 
accurate map  has  been  prepared  under  Turkish  auspices 
for  the  guidance  of  said  august  concessionnaire.  There  is 
also  a  Hne  of  zaptieh  stations  along  the  river  sufficient 
to  collect  taxes  from  the  fellaheen  and  give  escort  to 
Turkish  officials,  but  not  enough  to  subdue  the  Arabs 
and  afford  real  protection  to  the  country, 

Meskene,  the  station  at  which  we  had  planned  to  spend 
the  night,  lies  at  the  point  where  the  Euphrates  most 
■closely  approaches  the  Mediterranean  (about  loi  miles). 
A  little  below  this  the  river  bends  quite  sharply  toward 
the  east.  Either  Meskene,  or  the  ancient  Barbalissus(two 
miles  lower  down),  or  Thapsacus  (six  miles  below  that), 
forms  the  natural  port  of  Syria  on  the  Euphrates;  and  on 
account  of  this  there  has  probably  always  been  a  town  near 
this  point.  Some  of  the  most  famous  ruins  on  the  Eu- 
phrates lie  above  Meskene, — such  as  Jerabus,  the  ancient 
Carchemish,  the  Hittite  capital,  where  Nebuchadrezzar 
defeated  Pharaoh  Necho  (Jer. ,  xlvi.,  2);  Bir  or  Birtha, 
the  modern  Birejik,  a  zeugma  or  point  of  passage  of  the 
river  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present  day;  and 
Samosat  or  Samosata,  the  capital  of  Comagene,  the 
Kumukh  of  the  Assyrian  inscriptions,  situated  near  the 
point  at  which  the  Euphrates  breaks  a  passage  through 
the  Taurus  Mountains.  The  cities  of  this  region  are 
mentioned  over  and  over  again  in  the  Egyptian  and 
Assyrian  records.  Had  it  been  practicable,  I  should  have 
liked  to  march  from  Aleppo  to  Samosat,  and  thence  fol- 
low the  Euphrates  downwards.  This  was  of  course  im- 
possible, and  we  had  taken  the  shortest  road  from  Alepj^o 
to  the  Euphrates,  without  regard  to  ruins. 

It  was  our  intention,  as  already  stated,  to  spend  our 
first  night  on  the  Euphrates  at  the  zaptieh  station  of 
Meskene.  This  proved  to  be  a  long  and  hard  ride  of  an 
hour  and  a  half  down  the  Euphrates  valley,  through  very 
sticky  mud.     One  of  our  zaptiehs,  who  had  been  sent  on 


92  NIPPUR. 

in  adv^ance,  had  arranged  for  our  accommodation  in  quite 
comfortable  quarters,  which  were  very  acceptable ;  for  it 
had  rained  all  day,  part  of  the  time  hard,  and  we  were 
wet  and  cold.  One  of  our  men,  Artin,  had  fever  during 
the  night.  We  occupied  a  long,  low  room,  in  which 
there  was  a  rough,  dirty  platform  raised  above  the 
ground  on  either  side  for  seats  and  sleeping-places,  and 
in  the  walls  of  which  there  were  holes  for  windows.  Our 
men  cooked  and  slept  at  one  end  of  the  room ;  we  were 
in  the  middle;  and  some  stone-cutters  and  shepherds 
occupied  the  other  end. 

A  military  surgeon  stationed  at  Meskene,  a  Cypriote 
by  origin,  paid  us  two  or  three  visits,  bringing  with  him 
a  musical  album,  which  was  evidently  a  rarity  and  a 
great  treasure  in  that  wilderness,  and  which  he,  poor 
fellow,  supposed  would  please  us  as  much  as  it  pleased 
him  and  his  fellow-members  of  the  garrison.  On  Sunday 
morning  he  set  it  going  while  we  were  holding  prayers, 
rather  disconcerting  by  his  well-meaning  entertainment 
the  seriousness  of  our  devotions.  It  was  quite  pathetic 
to  observe  the  loneliness  of  this  half-educated  man,  act- 
ing as  surgeon  in  a  garrison  of  Turkish  soldiers.  He  was 
a  graduate  of  the  Imperial  Medical  School  at  Constan- 
tinople. He  was  the  first  military  surgeon  whom  I  had 
met,  but  from  later  experience  I  should  suppose  that 
almost  all  of  them  are  either  Christians  or  Jews.  I  can- 
not speak  highly  of  the  medical  training  which  they 
receive  in  the  Medical  School  at  Constantinople.  Be- 
sides the  surgeon,  the  only  other  disturbing  element 
v/hich  we  encountered  at  Meskene  was  cats,  which 
walked  over  our  faces  in  the  night  as  we  slept,  and  in- 
duced much  disturbance  and  some  slight  profanity  in  the 
camp,  men  hurling  their  boots  at  the  cats,  and  hitting, 
not  the  cats,  but  unoffending  comrades. 

Sunday  morning  dawned  cold  and  clear.  We  observed 
the   day   as   one  of  rest  and   recuperation,   and   killed  a 


THE   DISCOVERY  OF  TIPHSAH. 


93 


sheep  to  make  a  feast  for  our  muleteers  as  well  as  for  our- 
selves. In  the  evening  the  zaptieh  whom  we  had  de- 
spatched to  Aleppo  arrived,  bringing  the  legs  of  the  cam- 
era. The  following  morning,  Monday  the  17th,  our 
advanced  guard,  Field,  Noorian,  a  zaptieh,  and  I,  were 
on  the  march  by  half-past  seven.  Three  quarters  of  an 
hour's  riding  brought  us  to  the  ruins  of  ancient  Barbalis- 
sus,  now  known  as  Kal'at  Balis;  at  least  that  is  the  name 
given  to  the  ruins  on  Kiepert's  map,  but  the  only  name 
which  we  heard  among  the  natives  was  Old  Meskene. 
The  ruins  are  extensive.  Most  conspicuous  is  a  minaret 
of  brick,  with  several  lines  of  Arabic  inscription  in 
Kufic  characters.  This  inscription  was  so  far  above  the 
ground  that  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  an  accurate  tran- 
script. Noorian  copied  three  lines,  which  seem  to  read: 
"In  the  name  of  God,  the  merciful  and  gracious,  Bekr 
Mohammed  ibn  Eyub  Khalil,  prince  of  believers,  has 
gone  up."  As  I  am  unable  to  identify  this  Bekr  Mo- 
hammed ibn  Eyub,  the  inscription  does  not  help  to  date 
the  minaret.  Chesney  describes  this  as  "  a  remarkably 
fine  octagonal  tower,  rising  from  a  square  base  to  the 
height  of  75  feet,  and  having  an  interior  staircase."* 
Ainsworth  adds  that  there  were,  in  connection  with  the 
minaret,  "  several  sepulchral  chapels,  Saracenic  arches, 
and  fragments  of  other  edifices  and  structures. "f  With 
both  of  these  statements  my  observations  agreed,  except- 
ing that  I  should  scarcely  call  the  large  vaults  beneath 
and  about  the   minaret   "sepulchral   chapels." 

Part  of  the  ruins  of  Balis  are  Arabic,  and  part  Roman. 
To  the  latter  category  belong  a  badly  ruined  square  tower 
with  a  wall  of  enormous  thickness,  and  the  remains  of  a 
large  building  in  which  lay  some  good  capitals  of  the 
Gr^ECo-Roman  period.  It  may  have  been  this  tower  which 
was  pointed  out  to  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  in  1 163  A.D.,  as  the 

*  Expedition  to  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  vol.  i.,  p.  416. 

f  A  Personal  Narrative  of  the  Euphrates  Expeditioti,  vol.  i.,  p.  260. 


94  NJFPUK. 

remains  of  "  the  tower  of  Balaam  the  son  of  Beor.  (May 
the  name  of  the  wicked  rot!),"  which  he  built  for  magical 
purposes.  Benjamin  accordingly  identified  the  site  with 
Pethor  on  the  Euphrates  of  the  Book  of  Numbers,  the 
home  of  Balaam  the  soothsayer.  In  this  he  is  mistaken, 
for  "  Pethor  by  the  River  "  of  the  Hebrews  is  manifestly 
identical  with  Ana-Ashur-utir-azbat,  "  To  Ashur  I  have 
taken  and  restored  the  city,  which  the  Piittites  call 
Pitru,"  mentioned  several  times  in  the  inscriptions  of 
Shalmancser  II.,  King  of  Assyria  (860-824  B.C.),  as 
situated  "  on  the  river  Sagura  on  the  farther  side  of  the 
Euphrates."  The  Sagura  is  the  modern  Sajur,  which 
empties  into  the  Euphrates  two  or  three  days'  journey 
above  Balis,  not  far  south  of  the  ancient  Carchemish. 
More  precisely  Pethor  has  not  yet  been  located.  While 
it  is  probable  that  the  site  of  Balis  was  occupied  from  the 
earliest  times,  yet  our  knowledge  of  the  place  dates  only 
from  the  Roman  period,  when  it  appears  as  Barbalissus, 
or,  according  to  Ptolemy,  Barbarissus.  In  the  Talmud 
it  is  called  Barbarith.  The  place  played  a  part  in  the 
crusades,  and  was  taken  by  Tancred  in  the  year  11 11. 
In  the  first  part  of  the  next  century  it  was  captured  by 
Zenghis  Khan  and  his  Tartars.  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
same  century  Abu'lfeda,  prince  and  geographer,  describes 
it  as  "  a  port  of  the  Syrians  "  ;  that  is,  a  place  from  which 
they  took  ship  for  Irak.  It  was  finally  destroyed  by  the 
Sultan  Suleiman  in  the  sixteenth  century,  we  are  told,  in 
consequence  of  a  religious  quarrel. 

An  hour  beyond  Barbalissus,  on  a  point  of  the  plateau 
jutting  well  into  the  Euphrates  valley,  were  the  ruins  of 
an  old  fort  called  Sheikh  Hasan.  Chesney  and  Ains- 
w^orth  incorrectly  describe  this  as  a  tomb.  A  moat  had 
been  cut  to  separate  this  point  or  promontory  from  the 
plateau  behind.  Owing  to  the  frost,  which  had  glazed 
the  surface  of  the  cliff  with  a  thin  coating  of  ice,  we 
found  the  greatest  difficulty  in  ascending  to  the  neigh- 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF  TIP II SAIL  95 

borhood  of  this  fort.  The  rock  of  the  fort  we  could  not 
scale  at  all,  but  did  ultimately  succeed  in  reaching  the 
plateau  behind  the  moat.  On  the  southeastern  slope  of 
this  was  a  round  building,  which  from  appearances  we 
judged  to  belong  to  the  mediaeval  Arabic  period,  in  which 
case  the  fort  should  probably  be  assigned  to  the  same 
date.  But  what  the  original  name  of  the  place  was,  or 
by  whom  it  was  built,  I  do  not  know.  While  Field  was 
making  observations  here,  my  horse,  Niffer,  which  I  had 
staked  safely,  as  I  thought,  broke  loose,  jumped  a  deep 
guUey,  found  his  way  to  Field's  horse,  Hunger,  which 
had  been  staked  at  a  considerable  distance  from  him,  and 
made  a  fierce  attack  upon  him.  The  latter  broke  loose 
also,  and  the  two  together  went  in  search  of  the  horse 
of  the  zaptieh,  and  a  tripartite  battle  was  joined.  We 
were  all  afraid,  knowing  the  fury  with  which  stallions 
fight,  that  one  or  more  of  our  animals  would  be  killed  or 
maimed,  or  that  all  of  them  might  stampede  into  the 
desert,  and  leave  us  alone  on  a  promontory  overlooking  the 
desolate  Euphrates  valley.  It  had  taken  from  a  half  hour 
to  an  hour  to  ascend  the  slippery,  icy  surface  of  the  cliff; 
and  we  were  compelled  to  make  the  ascent  two  by  two, 
one  helping  the  other;  but  in  my  excitement  I  descended 
on  the  run,  jumping  from  ledge  to  ledge,  which,  if  I  had 
slipped,  would  have  insured  an  accident  of  the  most  seri- 
ous character.  I  arrived  in  the  nick  of  time,  and,  by  dint 
of  attacking  the  three  fighting  horses  with  shouts  and 
stones,  I  succeeded  in  getting  hold  of  the  end  of  Niffer's 
rope,  and  pulling  him  out  of  the  viclc'c.  By  the  time  I 
had  dragged  him  off  and  staked  him,  and  had  returned  to 
secure  another  combatant,  the  zaptieh,  who  had  slid 
down  most  of  the  way  on  his  hands  and  seat,  arrived, 
and  we  separated  the  other  horses.  This  was  a  sample 
of  the  conflicts  between  our  horses,  which  we  were  obliged 
to  guard  against  constantly. 

From  Sheikh   Hasan  on   for  about   an   hour   the   Eu- 


96  NIPPUR. 

phrates  ran  so  close  to  the  cliffs,  that  the  path  was  very 
narrow,  and  at  times  almost  dangerous.  The  white  cliffs 
rose  from  two  to  three  hundred  feet  above  us  on  our  right. 
The  rock  is  very  soft,  and  immense  fragments  are  con- 
stantly falling.  At  the  end  of  an  hour  we  reached  the 
small  ruin  of  Kal'at  Dibse.  At  this  point  the  bluffs  cease, 
and  are  succeeded  by  low  hills  like  those  which  border  the 
Euphrates  on  the  other  side ;  and  these  hills,  receding, 
form  a  great  bay,  on  the  edge  of  which  Kal'at  Dibse  is 
situated.  The  ruins  now  visible  are  of  brick,  and  rather 
insignificant  in  appearance ;  but  the  name  and  site  at  once 
suggested  to  me  that  they  were  the  remains  of  a  place  of 
great  importance,  namely,  Thapsacus, — the  famous  zeug- 
ma, or  place  of  passage  of  the  Euphrates,  Thapsacus 
is  the  Graeco-Latin  transliteration  of  the  Semitic  name 
Tiphsah, — that  is,  place  of  passage,  or  ford, — which  we 
find  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  as  the  name  of  the  city  at 
the  northeastern  boundary  of  Solomon's  kingdom  on  the 
Euphrates:  "For  he  had  dominion  over  everything 
beyond  the  river,  from  Tiphsah  even  to  Gaza"  (i  Kings 
iv.,  24).  Now,  the  name  Dibse,  allowance  being  made 
for  the  change  of  the  mutes  from  surds  to  sonants,  is 
identical  with  Tiphsah.  The  place  was,  I  knew,  approxi- 
mately in  the  position  assigned  to  Thapsacus  by  the 
Greek  and  Latin  writers.  The  situation,  in  itself  consid- 
ered, was  an  admirable  one,  commanding  a  fertile  plain 
formed  by  a  deep  bay  setting  into  the  plateau,  and 
backed  by  a  narrow  defile  along  the  river  to  the  north- 
east. Moreover,  the  situation  permitted  that  read}' 
communication  with  the  southwest  which  the  historical 
references  to  Tiphsah  or  Thapsacus  require.  When  I 
reached  camp  that  evening,  I  consulted  everything  which 
our  small  portable  library  contained.  The  only  reference 
to  Tiphsah  that  I  found  was  in  Sachau's  Rcisc  dnrcJi 
Syricn  nnd Mcsopotaiuicn  ;  but  he  identified  cl-Hammam, 
a  site  one  day  and  a  half  farther  down  the  stream,  with 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  TIPHSAH.  97 

Tiphsah.  As  I  learned  later,  he  did  so  on  the  authority  of 
Chesney's  Euphrates  and  Tigris  Expedition.  Chesney's 
ground  of  identification  was  the  discovery  in  the  river 
near  el-Hammam  of  some  masonry  with  lead  clamps,  on 
account  of  which  the  natives  call  the  place  Hadjar- 
Ressass  (stone  and  lead).  But  el-Hammam  does  not 
correspond  with  the  position  ascribed  to  Thapsacus  in 
Xenophon's  Anabasis;  namely,  three  days'  journey,  of 
five  parasangs  each,  beyond  the  Daradax.  Moreover, 
el-Hammam  does  not  control  the  southwestward  road 
toward  Hamath  and  Emesa,  as  Thapsacus  should,  but 
the  road  south  toward  Palmyra.  In  point  of  fact,  as 
Ainsworth,  who  was  with  Chesney,  shows  in  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  site,  without  understanding  the  bearings  of 
his  evidence,  el-Hammam  was  the  ancient  Sura,  a  border 
fortress  of  the  Roman  Empire  toward  the  east  until  the 
time  of  Diocletian.  It  manifestly,  therefore,  could  not 
have  been  Thapsacus.  Dibse,  on  the  other  hand,  which 
was  already  sufificiently  identified  by  its  name  as  ancient 
Tiphsah,  was  at  precisely  the  proper  distance  from  the 
edh-Dhahab  River,  the  Daradax  of  Xenophon.  There  is 
also  at  this  point  a  "  camel  ford,"  which  corresponds 
with  the  account  of  the  passage  of  the  river  given  by 
Xenophon. 

This  was  the  great  zeugma,  or  place  of  passage,  of  the 
river  Euphrates  for  the  caravans  of  commerce,  and  also 
for  invading  armies  moving  both  eastward  and  westward. 
It  is  at  the  bend  of  the  stream  where  it  changes  from  a 
southerly  to  an  easterly  course,  eight  miles  below  Mes- 
kene,  and  six  below  the  ancient  Barbalissus.  Situated  as 
it  was  on  a  large  fertile  bay  in  the  valley  of  the  stream, 
Avith  a  depression  in  the  plateau  behind  it,  down  which 
descended  the  roads  from  Hamath,  Emesa,  and  Damas- 
cus, it  was  well  adapted  to  become  a  great  commercial 
emporium,  and  to  command  the  road  between  East  and 
West.    At  this  point  was  the  extreme  limit  of  the  Hebrew 

VOL.    I. — 7 


98  xiprcR. 

Empire  in  the  days  of  the  glory  of  King  David,  when 
Judah  aimed  at  the  dominion  of  southwestern  Asia.  To 
accompHsh  his  designs  it  was  necessary  to  control  the 
passage  of  the  Euphrates,  and  for  that  purpose  he  held 
Tiphsah.  For  the  same  reason  it  was  occupied  by  the 
Assyrians  and  Babylonians.  Here  it  was  that  at  a  later 
date  Cyrus  the  Younger  informed  his  Grecian  troops  that 
they  were  marching  against  the  Great  King;  and  when 
they  hesitated  whether  to  follow  him  or  to  turn  back, 
Menon,  anxious  to  show  his  allegiance,  plunged  into  the 
stream,  and  led  his  Thessalians  across  through  water  that 
did  not  quite  reach  to  the  neck,  for  the  Persians  had 
destroyed  the  bridge  of  boats  which  formerly  spanned 
the  river  at  this  point.  Thapsacus  was  a  large  city  in 
those  days,  so  Xenophon  tells  us.  Alexander  crossed 
the  river  at  the  same  point,  carrying  the  victorious  arms 
of  the  West  into  the  very  heart  of  the  East.  Here  he 
launched  in  the  river  the  vessels  which  he  caused  to  be 
built  by  Phoenicians  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  carried 
overland  to  this  point,  imitating  wittingly  or  unwittingly 
the  example  of  Sennacherib,  who,  finding  it  impossible 
to  conquer  Merodach-Baladan  and  his  Chaldean  followers 
in  any  other  manner,  built  ships  on  the  Mediterranean 
coast,  transported  them  overland  to  Til  Barsip,  the  mod- 
ern Birejik,  launched  them  in  the  Euphrates,  manned 
them  with  Phoenician  sailors,  and  so  navigated  the  Per- 
sian Gulf  and  conquered  the  Chaldeans  in  their  last 
stronghold  on  the  Elamite  coast  (694  B.C.). 

Some  time  after  the  Christian  era,  Thapsacus  began  to 
lose  importance;  and  finally,  in  the  fourth  century  A.D., 
it  passed  altogether  out  of  knowledge.  By  a  happy 
chance  we  had  rediscovered  this  ancient  biblical  and  clas- 
sical site,  so  important  in  history,  because  it  controlled 
one  of  the  main  passages  of  the  great  river,  and  was  a 
point  of  transfer  on  the  direct  road  of  commerce  between 
the  lands  to  the  northeast  and  the  lands  to  the  southwest 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    TIPHSAH.  99 

of  the  Euphrates.  I  announced  the  discovery  in  TJie 
Nation,  May  23,  1889.  On  the  25th  of  July,  in  the  same 
year,  Dr.  Bernhard  Moritz  read  a  paper  before  the  Royal 
Prussian  Academy  on  "  The  Ancient  Palmyrene  Coun- 
try," in  which  he  announced  a  similar  identification.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  some  future  explorer  may  be  able  to 
delay  at  this  point  at  least  long  enough  to  determine  the 
precise  direction  of  the  road  or  roads  leading  inland  from 
Dibse,  and  to  ascertain  whether  any  Roman  milestones 
are  yet  to  be  found  there.  Some  day,  moreover,  the  site 
must  be  excavated. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   CITY   OF   ZEXOBIA. 

Mules  and  Pedometers — Battle  of  Siffin — Castle  Ja'ber — Lions  and  Wild 
Pigs — Ruins  of  Sura — The  Roman  Frontier — Resafa  a  Desert  City — 
Nikephorium — Rakka — Alexander  and  Harun-er-Rashid — Unknown 
Ruins — Turkish  Administration — The  el-Hamme  Gorge — Palmyrene 
Tombs — A  Skeleton  City — A  Twin  Fortress — Story  of  Zenobia — Castle 
Dabausa — Deir  ez-Zor — A  Wily  Priest — Forged  Antiquities — Popula- 
tion of  Deir — Civilizing  the  Arabs — Incidents  of  Travel. 

OUR  second  night  on  the  Euphrates  was  spent  at 
the  zaptieh  station  of  Abu  Hareire,  which  was  so 
small  and  mean  that  we  encamped  outside  of  it.  Abu 
Hareire  Hes  on  the  same  large  bay  in  the  plateau  in 
which  Dibse  is  situated,  and  is  seven  hours  and  a  half 
from  Meskene,  One  caravan  hour  is  usually  estimated 
as  three  miles.  In  my  experience  caravan  rates  differ 
considerably,  according  to  the  roads,  the  mules,  and  the 
muleteers,  and  even  from  day  to  day  according  to  the 
moods  of  the  last  two  ;  but  I  should  set  the  average  at 
nearer  two  and  three  quarters  than  three  miles  an  hour. 
Field  and  I  tried  to  ascertain  the  actual  average  rate  of 
our  caravan  by  placing  a  pedometer  on  the  head  mule; 
but  the  superstitious  muleteer  broke  the  instrument  in 
pieces  the  first  day,  and  then  reported  that  the  mule  had 
done  it.      Unfortunately  we  had  no  more  pedometers. 

It  rained  during  the  night,  and  the  next  day  was  dis- 
agreeable, although  but  little  rain  fell.  Our  course  lay 
.eastward  across  the  plain  to  the  ruins  of  a  town  which 


THE    CITY   OF  ZENOBIA.  lOI 

the  zaptiehs  called  Abu  Hareire.  It  is  situated  on  a  nose 
of  rock  running  down  to  the  very  edge  of  the  river. 
There  is  an  old  minaret  here,  not  unlike  the  one  at  Bar- 
balissus,  and  about  this  are  ruins  of  a  mosque  and  per- 
haps of  some  other  buildings.  Higher  up  on  the  hill  are 
more  extensive  remains.  In  the  soft  limestone  of  the 
bluff  near  the  river  shore  caves  have  been  hollowed  out, 
which  are  used  partly  as  sheepfolds,  partly  as  troglodytic 
dwellings.  I  presume  that  these  are  the  ruins  of  Sif^n, 
or  Sikkin  of  the  Arabs,  Sephe  of  the  Romans.  It  was  in 
this  neighborhood  that  Ali  and  Moawia  fought  the  great 
battle,  so  important  for  the  future  of  Islam,  with  the 
caliphate  as  the  prize,  in  the  year  657  A.D.  Ali  had 
almost  won  the  victory,  when  Moawia's  troops  put  the 
Koran  on  their  lances,  and  demanded  the  cessation  of 
hostilities  and  an  appeal  to  the  sacred  book.  All's  own  fol- 
lowers compelled  him  to  yield  to  this  demand,  with  the  re- 
sult that  Moawia  became  caliph,  and  Ali  saint  and  martyr. 
Opposite  Sif^n,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Euphrates, 
was  a  ruin  of  fine  appearance  called  Kal'at  Ja'ber.  This 
first  appears,  perhaps  as  early  as  the  third  century  A.D., 
as  Dauser  or  Dausara.  In  the  account  of  the  fatal  Per- 
sian campaign  of  Julian  the  Apostate,  it  is  called  the 
Castle  of  Dauana;  and  Procopius,  the  historian  of  Jus- 
tinian, calls  it  Dabanas.  Near  it  Chesney  and  Ainsworth 
reported  a  small  ruin  called  Deir  Mahariz.  Benjamin  of 
Tudela  calls  this  Sela  Mid  Bara,  and  says  that  a  large 
colony  of  Jews  lived  there  in  his  day.  Later  Ja'ber  and 
Mahariz  played  quite  a  part  in  the  conquest  of  this  coun- 
try by  the  Seljukian  Turks.  Suleiman  the  grandson  of 
Seljuk  was  drowned  in  the  Euphrates  near  here,  and 
buried  at  Mahariz.  Afterwards  Sultan  Selim  the  Grim 
(1512-20)  built  a  mausoleum  and  founded  a  convent  of 
dervishes  in  his  honor.  The  present  ruins  of  Castle 
Ja'ber  are  said  to  date  from  the  time  of  Selim.  Both 
Ja'ber  and  Mahariz  are  now  uninhabited. 


102  NIPPUR. 

For  almost  an  hour  after  leaving  Siffin  our  road  lay 
close  to  the  cliffs,  with  a  tamarisk  jungle  on  our  left, 
where  the  zaptiehs  said  that  there  were  lions.  The  cara- 
van was  therefore  brought  carefully  together,  no  animals 
being  allowed  to  straggle.  It  is  a  fact  that  there  are  lions 
in  the  jungles  of  the  upper  Euphrates;  and  we  found 
many  persons  who  related  stories  of  meeting  them,  or 
gave  us  authentic  information  of  encounters  on  the  part 
of  others.  There  are  abundant  traces  of  wild  pigs  all 
over  the  Euphrates  plain,  and  the  amount  of  surface 
rooted  up  by  these  animals  is  almost  incredible.  I  have 
seen,  as  we  rode  along  in  the  early  morning,  acres  of  land 
which  looked  as  though  freshly  ploughed,  but  which  had 
in  reality  been  rooted  up  by  wild  pigs  in  the  course  of 
one  night.  Nevertheless,  although  these  creatures  were 
so  abundant,  in  my  four  trips  up  and  down  the  Euphrates 
I  never  actually  saw  one.  Looking  down  upon  the  tam- 
arisk jungle  from  the  bluffs  above,  we  could  often  see 
hundreds  of  jackals  busily  running  hither  and  thither,  but 
we  never  saw  either  a  lion  or  a  pig. 

At  4.20  P.M.  we  reached  the  site  of  the  zaptieh  station 
of  el-Hammam,  but  were  told  that  the  station  itself  had 
been  swept  away  in  the  inundations  of  the  previous  year, 
1888.  We  were  therefore  compelled  to  pitch  our  tents 
by  the  side  of  the  tamarisk  jungle  near  a  solitary  Arab 
hut.  While  hunting  in  the  jungle  for  partridges  or  water- 
fowl, I  found  several  other  huts,  and  met  a  number  of 
armed  Arabs.  When  I  asked  some  of  these  Arabs  of  the 
Euphrates  valley  what  they  called  themselves,  they 
responded,  "  Fellaheen  "  ;  and  on  further  inquiry  I  found 
that  the  river  valley  is  divided  into  innumerable  districts 
or  tribes,  each  of  which  has  a  different  name.  These 
fellaheen,  or  tillers  of  the  soil,  are,  I  presume,  the  almost 
unchanged  descendants  of  the  men  who  tilled  the  soil 
here  in  the  times  of  Sargon,  Abraham,  David,  Sardana- 
pallus,  Nebuchadrezzar,  and  Alexander.     They  are  very 


THE    CITY  OF  ZENOBIA.  1 03 

miserable,  and  very  low  in  the  scale  of  civilization.  They 
are  oppressed  by  the  bedouin,  who  levy  kubbe  (the  so- 
called  brotherhood  money)  upon  them  at  will ;  while  the 
Turkish  authorities,  although  affording  them  no  protec- 
tion, plunder  them  even  more  ruthlessly,  under  the  name 
of  taxation.  A  number  of  very  dirty  and  half-naked 
specimens  brought  us  milk,  and  stood  about  our  camp-fire 
begging  for  tobacco.  The  muleteers  and  zaptiehs  told 
dreadful  stories  of  lions,  and  an  immense  bonfire  was 
kept  burning  all  night,  while  armed  watchmen  guarded  the 
animals.  However,  we  heard  nothing  but  the  wail  of  count- 
less jackals,  like  the  lamentations  of  disembodied  babies. 
The  next  morning  we  started  at  a  quarter  before  six. 
The  night  had  been  cold  with  quite  a  severe  frost,  and 
we  could  get  no  water  to  wash  in  before  starting.  Our 
breakfast  consisted  of  hot  milk  and  hardtack.  The  day 
was  beautiful  but  very  cold.  We  rode  at  first  with  the 
full  moon  behind  us  and  the  flush  of  dawn  in  front. 
While  it  was  still  dark  we  passed  the  ruins  of  Hammam. 
The  name  "  Hot  Baths  "  suggests  some  ancient  watering- 
place,  but  there  are  very  many  ruins  and  towns  of  this 
name  in  Turkey  at  the  present  time  which  could  not 
originally  have  been  watering-places.  Later  generations 
have  often  imagined  that  the  ruins  which  they  saw  must 
represent  great  bathing  establishments,  and  have  named 
them  Hammam  accordingly.  These  ruins  represented  in 
reality  the  ancient  Sura,  which  was  for  three  centuries  a 
border  fortress  of  the  Romans  against  the  Parthians, 
until  Diocletian  (286-306)  pushed  forward  the  border  to 
the  river  Khabor.  The  frontier  on  the  Euphrates  was 
guarded  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  Roman  Empire  by 
Kallinikus,  now  Rakka,  on  the  Mesopotamian  side  of  the 
river,  and  Sura  on  the  Syrian  side.  Below  the  latter 
there  was  a  chain  of  fortresses — Resafa,  Oriza,  Cholle, 
Aracha,  and  Palmyra — guarding  the  eastern  frontier. 
Sura  was  captured  by  Chosroes  in  540  A.D.     Procopius 


I04  NIPPUR. 

says  that  it  was  a  town  lying  on  the  Euphrates  River  next 
to  Zenobia,  and  that  it  had  such  despicable  fortifications 
that  when  Chosroes  besieged  it,  it  could  not  hold  out 
even  for  half  an  hour,  but  was  forthwith  taken  by  the 
Persians.  At  that  time  it  had  a  population  of  12,000.  It 
was  recaptured  by  Justinian's  famous  general,  Belisarius;. 
and  Procopius  gives  the  following  account  of  the  rebuild- 
ing and  fortification  of  the  place  by  Justinian:  "  But 
King  Justinian,  having  rebuilt  this  also,  like  Kallinikus, 
and  surrounded  the  small  town  entirely  with  a  very 
strong  wall,  and  fortified  it  with  an  outwork,  it  was  pre- 
pared no  longer  to  yield  to  attacking  enemies."  It  is 
mentioned  in  the  next  century,  in  the  history  of  the 
Moslem  conquest,  as  an  important  fortress.  It  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Arabs  almost  immediately  after  the  con- 
quest of  the  fortress  Zenobia.  After  that  time  the  place 
has  no  history.  Chesney  found  the  name  "  Sooreah,"  or 
"  Suria,"  still  attached  to  the  ruins,  but  I  heard  only  the 
name  "  Hammam."  The  ruins  here,  like  those  at  Dibse 
and  Barbalissus,  are  of  brick. 

The  passage  of  the  Euphrates  connecting  Sura  with 
Kallinikus  did  not  lie  directly  opposite  Sura,  but  some 
distance  farther  down  the  Euphrates,  much  nearer  to 
Kallinikus  than  to  Sura.  It  is  the  remains  of  the  bridge 
connecting  these  two  places  which  Chesney  found,  and 
which  he  supposed  to  be  the  remains  of  the  bridge  of 
Thapsacus.  This  bridge  was  almost  directly  opposite 
the  very  picturesque  ruins  of  Harakla,  on  the  Mesopo- 
tamian  side  of  the  river.  Harakla  is  evidently  some 
ancient  Heraklea,  but  further  information  about  its 
history  we  do  not  possess.  Sachau  visited  it  in  1879, 
and  reported  the  ruins  to  be  those  of  a  castle  of  the 
Roman-Greek  period.  He  supposes  it  to  have  been 
erected  to  protect  the  passage  of  the  river.  It  is  built 
of  great  blocks  of  white  gypsum,  like  the  Roman  fort- 
resses farther  down  the  river  on  the  Syrian  side. 


THE    CITY   OF  ZEXOBIA.  IO5 

About  a  day's  journey  (twenty-two  Roman  miles) 
almost  due  south  in  the  desert  stand  the  ruins  of  Resafa, 
the  Reseph  of  the  Bible  (2  Kings,  xix. ,  12),  one  of  the 
oldest  cities  of  this  region.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  As- 
syrian annals,  between  theyears  818  and  'JIJ  B.C.,  and 
its  governor  was  one  of  the  eponyms  of  the  famous 
Eponym  Lists,  which  shows  that  at  that  time  it  was  an 
Assyrian  city,  and  not  merely  a  subject  kingdom.  It 
appears  in  the  lists  always  either  just  before  or  just  after 
Nisibis.  Later,  as  already  mentioned,  it  became  a 
Roman  frontier  fortress  against  the  Parthians  and  Per- 
sians, and  a  station  on  the  route  from  Palmyra  to  the 
Euphrates.  Jaubert,  in  1840,  described  Resafa  thus: 
"It  is  entirely  deserted,  but  cannot  be  called  ruinous; 
the  walls  and  many  of  the  interior  buildings  being  in  an 
excellent  state  of  preservation.  The  town  displays  a 
mixture  of  ancient,  with  Saracenic,  Mohammedan,  and 
Christian  architecture;  the  last  being  of  a  comparatively 
late  period,  since  there  is  a  well-built  modern  Greek 
church  within  the  walls."  I  was  unable  to  visit  the  town 
on  any  of  my  trips  past  it,  and  Sachau  had  the  same 
experience.  Either  there  were  hostile  Arabs  in  the 
neighborhood,  or  no  guide  could  be  found,  or  there  was 
no  water  to  be  had  at  the  ruins,  and  no  way  of  carrying 
any.  A  native  who  professed  to  be  well  acquainted  with 
the  ruins  of  Resafa,  and  who  seemed  to  be  a  man  of  intel- 
ligence rather  above  the  common,  assured  me  that  it  can 
be  visited  only  in  the  spring,  on  account  of  the  lack  of 
water.  There  are  no  inscriptions  above  the  ground, 
according  to  him,  but  by  digging  many  can  be  found. 
At  my  urgent  request,  Haynes  made  a  successful  attempt 
to  visit  Resafa  on  his  way  to  Nippur  in  1893,  and 
reported  substantially  what  Jaubert  had  reported  half  a 
century  earlier.  The  ruins  which  both  these  travellers 
saw  probably  date  chiefly  from  Justinian's  restoration  of 
the  place  in  the  sixth  century  a.d. 


I06  NIPPUR. 

At  eleven  o'clock  we  were  opposite  the  extensiv^e  ruins 
of  Nikephorium,  or  Kallinikus,  now  known  as  Rakka. 
This  lies  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Belikh,  It  was 
erected  by  Alexander  the  Great  after  his  successful  pas- 
sage of  the  river  Euphrates,  Later  it  took  the  name  of 
Kallinikus  from  Seleucus  Kallinikus.  Nikephorium,  or 
Kallinikus  was,  as  already  stated,  a  frontier  fortress 
against  the  Parthians  and  Persians  until  the  time  of  Dio- 
cletian. Julian,  on  his  Persian  expedition  in  363  A.D., 
found  it  to  be  both  a  strongly  fortified  city,  and  also  a 
place  of  considerable  commercial  importance;  and  such  it 
continued  throughout  the  Roman  period.  A  century 
after  the  Arab  conquest  the  Abbasside  caliphs  rebuilt 
the  place,  and  changed  the  name  to  Rakka  (exalted). 
Here  Harun-er-Rashid  established  his  residence  after  he 
had  aroused  disaffection  in  Baghdad  by  the  murder  of 
the  Barmecides.  It  offered  a  stout  resistance  to  Tamer- 
lane and  his  Tartars  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  was 
still  an  important  city  when  the  Ottoman  Turks  annexed 
this  region  in  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
Since  then  it  has  fallen  into  ruins.  Chesney  found  it 
quite  uninhabited ;  but  when  Sachau  visited  it,  a  force  of 
from  thirty  to  forty  wild  Turkish  zaptiehs  were  stationed 
there.  Both  Ainsworth  and  Sachau  report  the  ruins  as 
very  extensive.  Ainsworth  says  that  almost  everything 
above  ground  is  Arabic.  The  remains  of  Harun-er- 
Rashid's  palace  he  pronounces  very  fine.  The  city  lay 
on  the  edge  of  the  plateau,  overlooking  the  Euphrates 
valley.  It  was  decagonal  in  shape,  and  the  walls  were 
built  of  brick. 

On  our  side  of  the  river  there  were  two  small  mounds 
called  el-Habash.  On  one  of  these  were  Arab  graves, 
one  of  which  had  been  dug  up  by  jackals  or  hyenas  the 
night  before.  There  were  several  coarse,  red  marble  col- 
umns lying  about.  Half  an  hour  eastward  lay  another 
mound  called  Kubba  (dome). 


THE    CITY   OF  ZEXOBIA.  \OJ 

At  one  o'clock  we  came  to  cliffs  rising  abruptly  out  of 
the  river,  A  path  had  once  existed  at  the  base  of  these 
cliffs;  but  this  had  been  swept  away  in  the  inundations 
of  the  previous  summer,  and  we  were  compelled  to  make 
a  detour  ov^er  the  gypsum  hills  and  the  plateau  above. 
We  returned  to  the  valley  again  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment  by  a  very  precipitous  route,  which  the  caravan 
avoided.  We  lost  the  latter,  accordingly,  and  did  not 
rejoin  it  until  it  had  almost  reached  the  station  of  Sab- 
ghat.  On  a  bluff  of  the  plateau,  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
before  reaching  the  latter  place,  we  saw  a  ruinous  fort 
called  el-Heil,  apparently  the  same  as  the  Nechele  of 
Moritz's  map,  but  not  given  on  any  other  map,  so  far  as 
I  know.  Almost  every  one  who  journeys  over  this  route 
finds  some  new  ruins,  and  a  glance  at  the  map  of  Ptole- 
maeus  shows  that  there  must  be  still  many  places  await- 
ing discovery.  Unfortunately  his  map  of  the  region  is 
so  incorrect  in  regard  to  what  we  do  know,  that  it  does 
not  materially  help  us  to  identify  what  we  do  not  know. 

Sabghat  is  the  residence  of  a  mudir,  the  official  next  in 
rank  below  a  kaimakam.  In  the  Turkish  administration 
there  are  first  provinces,  under  the  government  of  a  wali, 
or  governor-general.  These  provinces  are  divided  into 
sanjaks,  each  sanjak  administered  by  a  mutessarif,  or 
governor;  the  sanjaks  are  divided  into  kaimakamliks, 
governed  by  a  kaimakam;  each  kaimakamlik  in  its  turn 
is  divided  into  mudirliks,  administered  by  a  mudir.  There 
was  no  village  at  Sabghat,  but  only  a  station  for  a  half 
dozen  zaptiehs,  with  a  khan  for  the  Mudir.  Here  we 
exchanged  the  three  Kurdish  zaptiehs  whom  we  had 
brought  from  Aleppo  for  two  Circassians.  Regularly, 
zaptiehs  should  be  exchanged  at  each  station,  but  by  a 
special  arrangement  the  three  who  came  with  us  from 
Aleppo  were  to  conduct  us  to  the  border  of  the  vilayet  of 
Haleb.  Of  course  they  expected  and  received  a  bak- 
sheesh for  their  services. 


lOS  NIPPUR. 

W'c  rode  all  the  next  day  through  a  flat  plain,  abso- 
lutely without  a  point  of  interest,  arriving  at  Ma'dan,  a 
station  with  five  zaptiehs,  at  2.45  P.M.  The  next  morn- 
ing, sending  one  of  our  zaptiehs,  a  Turk,  with  the  cara- 
van, with  which  went  also  Hilprecht  and  Prince,  the  rest 
of  us  with  the  other  zaptieh,  who  was  a  Kurd,  started  to 
visit  the  ruins  of  Halebieh.  The  caravan  went  b\-  the 
regular  road,  back  over  the  plateau,  while  we  followed  a 
rougher  road  along  the  valley.  The  hills,  which  were  of 
gypsum  mixed  with  sand,  were  at  first  low  and  even 
rolling.  We  rode  very  fast,  and  the  Kurd's  mare  made 
our  animals  almost  unmanageable.  About  ten  o'clock 
we  reached  the  ruined  fort  of  Kassabe,  on  a  small  hill  a 
little  distance  from  the  river,  by  which  there  was  also  a 
deserted  and  dilapidated  mud  village.  On  the  plain  were 
two  or  three  tent  villages.  The  plain  was  all  of  it  culti- 
vated in  durra,  which  rendered  riding  difficult,  for  wher- 
ever the  land  is  cultivated  it  is  cut  up  into  small  plots  by 
little  dikes  containing  irrigating  canals.  The  water  to 
supply  these  is  raised  from  the  river  either  by  water- 
wheels  (naouras),  or  by  ox-buckets.  At  about  this  point 
a  ridge  of  trachyte,  called  el-Hamme,  begins  to  approach 
the  Euphrates.  It  has  been  forced  up  through  the  g>'p- 
sum  and  limestone  to  a  height,  close  to  the  river,  of 
three  hundred  or  four  hundred  feet.  Through  this  the 
Euphrates  breaks  its  way  in  a  narrow  gorge,  having  a 
minimum  width,  according  to  Chesney,  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  yards,  and  a  depth  of  seven  fathoms.  The 
greater  part  of  the  el-Hamme  range  is  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Euphrates,  and  extends,  we  were  told,  two  or 
three  days'  journey  back  into  the  desert  in  the  direction 
of  Palmyra.  Just  at  the  commencement  of  this  gorge, 
on  the  Mesopotamian  side  of  the  river,  Sachau  found  en 
a  height  the  ruins  of  a  town  built  of  gypsum  and  basalt, 
and  along  the  river  in  the  valley  below  the  remains  of  a 
dam  or  dike.     These  ruins  were  called  Jabr  Abu   'Atish. 


THE    CITY  OF  ZEXOBIA.  IO9 

About  eleven  o'clock  we  reached  the  ruins  which  our 
guide  called  Halebieh,  situated  in  a  valley  in  the  el- 
Hamme.  The  river  at  this  point  runs  due  north  and 
south.  The  valley  in  which  the  ruins  lie  is  peculiarly 
barren  and  wild  looking,  and  is  strewn  everywhere  with 
large  blocks  of  trachyte.  To  the  north  of  the  city  there 
is  the  bed  of  a  mountain  torrent.  Here  there  are  a 
number  of  tower  tombs  of  the  Palmyrene  type,  besides 
a  considerable  number  of  rock-cut  tombs.  One  of  the 
tower  tombs,  the  most  northerly,  which  appeared  to  be 
better  preserved  than  the  rest,  I  visited.  Outside  the 
walls  were  of  gypsum,  much  crumbled;  but  within  they 
were  of  small  pieces  of  trachyte  set  in  much  mortar  and 
plastered  over.  A  flight  of  steps  wound  around  within, 
and  in  the  heart  of  the  tower  was  a  chamber  about  nine 
feet  square  and  fifteen  feet  high.  On  each  of  the  four 
sides  of  this  was  a  broad  niche  some  five  feet  above  the 
floor,  and  below  these  niches  smaller  niches  with  pointed 
arches.  At  one  end  of  each  of  the  large  niches,  raised 
about  three  feet  above  its  floor,  was  a  hole  four  feet  long 
and  two  and  a  half  feet  high.  These  niches  were  the 
receptacles  for  the  dead,  but  all  were  empty. 

Ainsworth  found  in  one  of  the  tombs  in  this  neighbor- 
hood an  unintelligible  Greek  inscription  ;  while  in  another 
Lynch  unearthed  a  female  mummy,  its  face  covered  with 
a  thin  mask  of  gold-leaf.  No  later  traveller  has  ever 
found  anything,  and  very  few  have  even  visited  the  place. 

Chesney,  in  describing  these  ruins,  says  that  "  the 
necropolis  occupies  a  prominent  situation  in  the  valley, 
and  along  the  declivity  of  the  hill  westward  of  the  town, 
and  it  is  remarkable  for  a  number  of  square  towers  of 
precisely  the  same  construction  as  those  near  Palmyra. 
These  monuments  of  mortality  usually  consist  of  three 
stories,  the  lowest  and  middle  appear  to  have  been  tene- 
ments of  the  dead,  whilst  the  upper  story  served  as  a 
place  of  defence,  and  terminated  either  with  a  flat  or  a 


no  NIPPUR. 

pyramidal  roof  surrounded  by  battlements."  The  ruins 
of  the  city  itself,  which  according  to  his  measurement  is 
twenty-six  miles  from  the  town  of  Deir,  he  thus  de- 
scribes, after  saying  that  the  walls  are  built  of  fine 
gypsum  :  "In  the  town  are  the  ruins  of  a  temple,  and  an 
extensive  palace  containing  many  ornamented  apart- 
ments; and  also  numerous  well-constructed  private 
dwellings,  supported  by  arches;  and  in  general  the  build- 
ings are  so  well  preserved  that  the  mind  can  scarcely  be 
brought  to  feel  that  all  have  so  long  been  unoccupied." 

Either  this  description  was  inaccurate,  or  the  ruins 
have  changed  much  in  the  last  sixty  years.  The  tombs 
in  the  necropolis  are,  as  stated,  distinctly  of  the  Palmy- 
rene  type,  but  much  less  pretentious  and  imposing  than 
those  of  Palmyra.  The  city,  as  one  sees  it  from  without, 
is  admirably  preserved ;  and  indeed  it  is  a  surprise,  the 
effect  of  which  I  can  hardly  describe,  to  find  directly 
across  one's  path  in  a  gorge  of  these  barren  trachyte 
hills,  where  the  Euphrates  is  at  its  wildest,  what  seems 
to  be  a  walled  city  in  perfect  preservation.  It  is  built  in 
the  form  of  a  triangle,  its  base  along  the  Euphrates,  and 
its  apex  on  an  isolated  hill  315  feet  in  height.  The  walls 
are  strengthened  by  towers  150  to  250  feet  apart;  and  so 
well  are  they  preserved,  that  as  you  stand  without,  they 
look  almost  as  though  built  yesterday.  But  you  enter  by 
the  gate,  to  which  the  valley  road  conducts  you,  not  a 
living  city,  but  the  skeleton  of  a  city,  disembowelled  and 
fleshless.  Within  the  walls  all  is  blank;  only  on  the 
northern  side,  half-way  up  the  hill,  partly  within  and 
partly  without  the  wall  line,  stands  a  palace  fortress  of 
early  Byzantine  style,  fairly  well  preserved  (F  in  the 
cut).  This  building  has  fine  domes  of  brickwork  and 
arches.  It  was  once  three  stories  in  height,  and  two  of 
the  three  stories  are  still  well  preserved.  At  A  and  A' 
on  the  cut  are  the  principal  gateways  with  large  tower 
buildings,  and  a  paved  street  runs  through  the  city  from 


THE    CITY   OF  ZEXOBIA.  Ill 

one  gate  to  the  other.  These  towers  and  also  the  other 
smaller  towers  along  the  walls  all  had  vaulted  rooms 
within,  and  all  are  evidently  of  Byzantine  construction. 
At  B",  and  apparently  also  at  B  and  B',  there  were  smaller 
gates.  I  say  apparently  at  B  and  B',  for  the  Avails  along 
the  Euphrates  were  not  so  well  preserved  as  those  on  the 
other  two  sides.  The  river  at  the  present  time  is  about 
one  hundred  feet  from  the  walls,  and  must  always  have 
been  about  the  same  distance  away,  but  in  flood  it  washes 
against  them. 


E    D 


/. 

c 

.\ 

3" 

fi 

''eupji^ate& 

;~^y 

^M 

^N 

PLAN    OF    ZENOBIA. 


At  C  we  found  a  couple  of  capitals  of  the  late  Corin- 
thian transition  period.  Perhaps  there  had  been  a  colon- 
nade at  this  point.  At  E  there  seemed  to  have  been  a 
market-place  or  forum.  Several  columns  and  troughs, 
were  visible;  but  no  plan  could  be  traced  without  excava- 
tion, as  everything  was  too  much  buried.  At  D  and 
D'  were  the  remains  of  two  buildings  with  apses,  exactly 
orientated,  which,  as  far  as  I  could  judge  without  exca- 
vation, were  once  churches.     At  B"  the  hill  begins  to  be 


112  NIPPUR. 

very  steep.  The  acropolis  at  its  apex,  and  a  small  part  of 
the  south  wall  adjoining  the  acropolis,  are  of  different 
work  from  the  rest  of  the  city.  The  walls  elsewhere  are 
built  of  large  blocks  of  gypsum  cut  in  rectangles;  but 
here  the  stones  are  smaller  and  of  irregular  shape,  tra- 
chvte  also  being  used.  This  part  of  the  wall  and  the 
tower,  or  acropolis,  on  the  hill,  seem  to  have  been  de- 
stroyed, and  rebuilt  with  fragments  of  trachyte  found 
ready  to  hand.  The  acropolis  must  have  been  a  place  of 
great  strength,  owing  to  its  situation.  Even  on  the  city 
side  the  wall  is  difficult  to  scale,  on  account  of  the  steep- 
ness of  the  hill.  It  is  too  much  ruined  to  determine  the 
plan;  but  there  are  vaults  built  of  brick  masonry  under- 
neath the  structure,  which  reminded  me  somewhat  of 
those  at  Mount  Pagos  in  Smyrna,  excepting  that  they 
are  smaller,  and  only  one  of  them  is  threefold.  At  the 
time  of  my  visit  there  were  no  other  ruins  in  the  city; 
but  stones  from  the  houses  which  once  lined  the  streets 
have  been  used  by  the  Arabs  to  build  rude  shelters  for 
themselves  and  their  sheep,  and  a  cave  in  the  hill  (near 
B")  has  served  a  similar  purpose.  South  of  the  city  there 
are  a  few  more  tombs,  and  also  the  foundations  of  two 
rough  basalt  walls  running  from  the  hills  to  the  river, 
which  seem  to  have  been  an  outer  line  of  fortification. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  river,  from  one  to  two  miles 
lower  down,  on  a  bluff  with  a  valley  behind,  stand  the 
ruins  of  Zelebi,  or  Chelebi,  which  were  visited  by  Sachau, 
and  are  described  by  him,  in  his  Rcisc  dnrcJi  Syricn  mid 
Mesopotainioi,  as  a  castle  or  fortress  rather  than  a  city. 
Moritz  identifies  this  latter  place  satisfactorily  with  Cha- 
nuga,  mentioned  by  Procopius.  Just  below  Zelebi, 
according  to  Chesney  and  Ainsworth,  are  the  remains  of 
a  canal  which  ran  to  the  Khabor,  and  which  is  ascribed 
by  Isidorus  of  Charax  to  Semiramis.  The  el-Hamme 
dike  of  trachyte  continues  for  about  an  hour  beyond 
HaL'bieh,  and  the  road  between  the  hills  and  the  river  is 


THE    CITY  OF  ZEXOBIA.  II3 

at  places  very  narrow.  At  the  narrowest  point  I  observed 
remains  of  what  looked  like  a  barrier  or  gateway  of  gyp- 
sum blocks.  There  were  quantities  of  katta,  or  pin-tailed 
grouse,  among  the  ruins;  but  these  birds  are  exceedingly 
shy,  and  difficult  to  shoot.  I  succeeded  in  obtaining 
only  one. 

Haynes  made  some  nine  photographic  exposures  at 
Halebieh ;  but  all  of  his  photographs,  up  to  and  including 
Deir,  turned  out  failures,  for  a  reason  already  mentioned. 
This  is  the  more  to  be  regretted  in  the  case  of  Halebieh, 
as  we  had  placed  considerable  reliance  upon  the  success 
of  our  photographs,  and  made  our  sketches  and  descrip- 
tions in  connection  with  them,  and  also  because  no  other 
photographs  of  this  interesting  ruin  had  ever  been  taken. 

At  the  time  of  my  first  visit  I  could  learn  no  other 
name  for  these  ruins  than  Halebieh.  Later  I  found  that 
the  place  is  still  known  in  Damascus  and  at  Palmyra  by 
its  ancient  name  of  Zenobia.  It  was  an  outpost  of  Pal- 
myra in  the  time  of  its  splendor  to  control  the  commerce 
of  the  Euphrates.  Fortunately  for  our  knowledge  of  the 
history  of  this  place,  Procopius  devotes  much  space  to  an 
account  of  its  fortification  by  Justinian.  It  was  the 
middle  one  of  three  castles  which  Justinian  built  in  the 
desert  along  the  Euphrates;  Sura  being  above  it,  and 
IMambri  below  it.  Zenobia  had  built  a  small  town  here, 
"vvhich  she  had  named  after  herself.  In  Justinian's  time 
the  walls  of  this  town  had  become  so  ruinous  that  they 
were  absolutely  no  protection  against  the  Persians,  who 
entered  it  at  will.  Justinian  resolved  to  rebuild  it 
entirely,  to  colonize  it  with  a  sufficient  number  of  fight- 
ing men,  and  to  make  it  a  bulwark  and  an  outpost  against 
the  Persians.  Inasmuch  as  it  was  far  removed  from 
assistance,  it  was  necessary  to  make  it  very  strong,  which 
the  original  Zenobia  had  not  been,  for  it  had  been  over- 
looked by  an  overhanging  hill.  In  short,  Justinian 
enlarged  the  original  Zenobia  considerably,  and  changed 


114  NIPPUR. 

its  shape,  giving  it  its  present  triangular  form,  with  the 
citadel  occupying  the  overhanging  hill.  This  latter  he 
surrounded  with  a  wall  on  all  sides,  both  within  and 
without  the  city.  On  the  river  side,  since  in  time  of 
flood  the  river  sometimes  rose  to  the  top  of  the  battle- 
ments, doing  the  walls  much  injury,  he  built  as  a  pro- 
tection an  outside  wall  of  trachyte.  But  not  only  did  he 
provide  for  the  defence  of  the  place,  he  also  built  there 
churches  and  a  government  house,  and  added  to  this 
public  baths  and  markets.  It  is  substantially  the  city  of 
Justinian,  described  by  Procopius,  the  ruins  of  which  the 
traveller  sees  at  Zenobia  to-day. 

It  was  near  the  town  named  after  herself  that  Aurelian 
is  supposed  to  have  captured  the  famous  Queen  of  the 
East  in  272  A.D.,  after  her  five  days'  flight  from  Palmyra 
on  a  she-camel.  A  woman  of  a  different  sort  played  a 
part  in  the  surrender  of  the  city  to  the  Arabs  almost  four 
hundred  years  later,  if  we  may  believe  the  romantic  story 
of  the  Arabic  historian  of  the  conquest,  al-Wakedi.' 
According  to  his  somewhat  apocryphal  narrative,  Halebi 
and  Zelebi,  or  Riba  and  Zilba  as  he  calls  them,  were  con- 
nected by  a  tunnel  beneath  the  Euphrates,  and  the 
double  fortress  was  regarded  as  impregnable.  But  Zelebi 
was  the  dower  of  a  Christian  widow  whose  father,  the 
infamous  Yukina,  formerly  Governor  of  Aleppo,  had 
turned  renegade.  He  persuaded  her  to  treacher\';  the 
Governor  of  Halebi  was  invited  to  a  feast  and  murdered ; 
and  by  means  of  the  tunnel  under  the  Euphrates  and  the 
assistance  of  the  Vizier,  formerly  a  resident  of  the  cloister 
of  Deir-Hafr,  Halebi  was  handed  over  to  the  Moslems. 
After  the  conquest  the  town  of  Zenobia  seems  to  drop 
out  of  history. 

As  already  stated,  the  el-Hamme  dike  continues  for 
about  an  hour  beyond  Halebi.  Beyond  this  there  was  a 
large  plain  fairly  well  cultivated,  and  about  the  middle 

'  Ainsworth,   The  Euphrates  Expeditioti,  i.,  j2,i  ff. 


THE    CITY  OF  ZENOBIA.  I15 

of  it  a  ruined  mud  village  called  Tubne,  uninhabited, 
where  Chesney  and  Ainsworth  report  brick  ruins.  Oppo- 
site this,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  Chesney  and  Ains- 
worth report  important  remains  of  an  ancient  city,  now 
called  Sur-al- Humor.  We  spent  the  night  at  the  zaptieh 
barracks  of  Terif  on  this  plain.  The  general  course  of 
the  day  had  been  southeast  by  east.  By  passing  over  the 
plateau  the  caravan  had  made  the  trip  in  seven  hours. 
Our  road,  following  the  bends  of  the  river,  was  two  hours 
longer. 

The  next  morning  we  rose  at  three  o'clock,  and  left 
Terif  at  four.  I  despatched  Noorian  and  the  zaptieh  in 
advance  to  secure  rooms  in  the  khan  at  Deir;  and  Harper, 
Hilprecht,  and  Prince  accompanied  them.  Haynes,  Field, 
and  I  turned  aside  to  visit  the  ruins  called  Tabus,  which 
were  some  three  and  a  half  hours  beyond  Terif.  These 
ruins  are  magnificently  situated  on  a  very  high  bluff  over- 
looking a  rich  plain.  At  the  western  end  of  the  plain  is. 
the  fountain  of  'Ain  Tabus,  from  which  a  small  stream 
flows  into  the  Euphrates.  We  went  up  to  the  plateau  on 
the  west  side  of  the  bluff,  as  Sachau  had  done  before  us. 
On  the  plain  there  was  no  frost,  but  it  was  quite  heavy 
a  little  way  up,  and  the  ascent  was  slippery  and  diffi- 
cult. There  is  nothing  of  any  importance  at  Tabus. 
One  ruin  to  the  west  was  merely  a  tomb.  To  the  east 
was  a  sorry  fragment  of  what  may  have  been  a  tower,  the 
substructures  of  some  houses,  and  perhaps  a  little  piece 
of  wall.  All  seemed  late,  although  the  site  itself  is 
ancient,  the  Roman  Dabausa.  It  was  a  castle  rather 
than  a  town,  as  the  size  of  the  site  shows.  Toward  the 
side  of  the  desert  it  was  protected  by  a  deep  cut  in  the 
rock.  We  found  a  path  down  the  east  side,  and  the 
remains  of  a  bridge  over  a  ravine.  The  old  road  to  Da- 
bausa from  the  valley  seems  to  have  ascended  this  ravine, 
but  the  fall  of  fragments  of  the  cliff  rendered  it  impos- 
sible for  us  to  trace  it  with  certainty. 


Il6  XIPPUR. 

Shortly  after  passing  Tabus,  we  left  the  rich  alluvial 
plain,  our  road  leading  over  a  stony  barren  plateau.  At 
ten  o'clock  we  passed  a  miserable  little  ruined  tower;  and 
about  eleven  we  passed  a  little  hill  called  Tel-el-Hejef, 
presumably  the  Shef-el-Aiaash  of  Chesney,  below  which 
was  a  spring  of  naphtha  and  bitumen,  called  'Ain  Abu 
Juma,  and  a  brick  ruin.  Ainsworth  says  that  "  there  are 
other  springs  of  the  same  description  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  they  occur  where  the  volcanic  rocks  have 
broken  through  the  marls  and  gypsum,  which  are  super- 
imposed by  breccias  and  selenitic  sandstones."  Here 
trachyte  again  crops  up  through  the  gypsum,  and  at  some 
places  in  this  neighborhood  there  are  also  banks  of  mud 
and  sand  conglomerate  of  considerable  height. 

It  was  12.40  P.M.  when  we  reached  the  town  of  Deir. 
The  name,  which  means  "  monastery,"  would  imply  that 
in  pre-Mohammedan  times  it  was  the  site  of  a  religious 
foundation;  but  I  have  been  unable  to  obtain  any  infor- 
mation that  would  identify  it  with  such  a  site.  Moritz 
says  that  the  earliest  mention  of  the  place  which  he  can 
find  is  from  the  year  1331  A.D.  Abu-'lfeda,  in  his  Chron- 
icle, records  an  overflow  of  the  Euphrates  which  cov^ered 
the  plain  up  to  the  heights  of  Rehaba,  and  broke  "  the 
dam  in  Deir  Basir. "  Ainsworth  identifies  Deir  with  Deir 
Abuna,  and  gives  Idrisi  as  authority  for  the  statement 
that  there  stood  on  this  spot  before  the  conquest  a  mon- 
astery famous  for  its  great  antiquity.  But  whenever  it 
was  founded,  it  is  at  the  present  time  the  most  important 
town  on  the  Euphrates  between  Birejik  and  Busrah.  It 
is  the  seat  of  a  mutessarif,  and  is  at  present  an  inde- 
pendent sanjak.  It  is  a  town  of  about  10,000  population. 
In  the  thirties,  according  to  Ainsworth,  it  was  a  town  of 
only  about  2500  population,  and  governed  by  an  Arab 
sheikh,  who  paid  tribute  to  the  Turks.  Excepting  the 
soldiers  of  the  garrison  and  the  officials,  there  are  no 
Turks  resident  there.     To  distinguish  it  from  other  Deirs, 


THE    CITY   OF  ZEXOBIA.  WJ 

it  is  known  officially  as  Deir  ez-Zor,  that  is,  Deir  of  Syria, 
or  the  Syrian  side  of  the  Euphrates.  It  lies  close  to  the 
desolate  plateau  which  stretches  back  from  the  Euphrates 
valley,  but  immediately  below  it  that  valley  broadens 
into  a  large  and  fertile  plain.  The  river  branches  just 
above  Deir,  and  the  town  lies  on  the  branch  known  as 
the  Jafr  canal,  which  is  fordable.  There  is  also  a  rude 
bridge  across  this  canal,  fit  only  for  foot  passengers. 
The  Euphrates  proper  is  neither  fordable  nor  bridged. 

A  Syrian  Catholic  priest  met  us  outside  of  Deir,  and  in- 
vited us  to  be  his  guests, — an  invitation  which  we  politely 
declined.  We  saw  a  good  deal  of  him  later,  and  he  and 
his  brother  tried  to  sell  us  forged  antiquities.  At  the 
outset  we  were  all  taken  in;  and  Harper  and  Hilprecht 
had  quite  a  contest  as  to  priority  of  right,  and  which 
should  have  the  honor  of  buying  the  antiquities.  Fortu- 
nately the  man  did  not  accept  our  first  offer.  Later, 
Hilprecht  found  some  frauds  in  the  possession  of  the 
priest's  brother.  This,  and  something  I  learned  through 
Noorian,  awakened  my  suspicions,  and  I  sent  for  the  first 
lot  again.  On  closer  examination,  it  proved  that  they 
were  all  forgeries.  Among  them  was  a  curious  plaque 
with  a  Buddhistic  figure  upon  it,  and  underneath,  written 
in  cuneiform  characters,  the  word  Buddha.  Later,  in 
Baghdad,  we  saw  several  pieces  of  the  same  manufacture, 
of  Lidian  type,  with  inscriptions  in  cuneiform  characters, 
evidently  composed  by  one  who  knew  something  of  the 
cuneiform  script. 

According  to  the  Syrian  Catholic  priest,  there  are  1600 
families  at  Deir.  Of  these,  four  or  five  are  Greek,  eighty 
Syrian  Catholics,  and  the  rest  Moslems,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  four  or  five  Jews.  How  much  reliance  can  be 
placed  on  this  religious  census  I  do  not  know.  Later  I 
ascertained  that  the  Armenian  Catholics  have  a  station  at 
this  point.  Syrian  Catholics  and  Armenian  Catholics,  be 
it  said,   are  Syrians  and  Armenians  who  have  left  their 


Il8  NIPPUR. 

ancient  national  churches  and  acknowledged  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  Pope  of  Rome.  In  general  these  Roman- 
Catholic  sects  of  the  ancient  Oriental  churches  are  allowed 
to  retain  their  own  ritual  and  language.  The  priests 
marry  and  are  bearded.  These  schisms  started  in  the 
sixteenth  century  A.D. 

The  population  of  Deir  was,  on  the  whole,  the  lowest 
that  I  had  ever  seen  in  any  town.  Numbers  of  both 
sexes  and  all  ages  had  lost  an  eye ;  and  most  of  them 
seemed  to  be  scarred  by  "  the  Aleppo  button,"  or  by 
small-pox.  All  of  the  women  w^ere  tattooed,  and  most  of 
the  men.  One  peculiarly  ugly  form  of  the  tattoo  wdiich 
the  women  of  the  Euphrates  valley  favor  is  the  blueing 
of  the  lower  lip.  They  generally  also  have  dots  of  blue 
on  the  cheeks  and  forehead,  and  frequently  on  the  tip  of 
the  nose.  I  once  reached  Deir  after  the  whole  female 
population  had  been  tattooed  afresh,  and  while  the  colors 
on  their  lips,  cheeks,  noses,  foreheads,  breasts,  wrists, 
and  ankles,  were  still  a  staring  bright  blue.  The  effect 
was  indescribable.  In  addition  to  the  tattoo,  by  way  of 
further  ornament,  the  women  wear  nose-rings.  A  few  of 
them  wore  the  untidy-looking  large  rings,  fastened  in  the 
central  cartilage  of  the  nose,  and  falling  down  over  the 
niouth.  More  common  are  the  rings  fastened  in  one  of 
the  nostrils,  and  falling  only  as  far  as  the  upper  lip. 
Least  untidy,  but  also  least  common,  are  the  very  small 
rings  in  one  nostril,  so  arranged  that  the  jewel  fits  closely 
into  the  curve  of  the  nostril  on  the  side.  These  latter 
rings  are  sometimes,  when  properly  contrived,  quite  as 
ornamental  as  ear-rings. 

The  town  of  Deir  seems  to  be  thriving,  as  towns  in 
that  country  go,  and  I  was  told  that  property  was  increas- 
ing in  value.  There  were  two  large  khans  in  the  place, 
and  our  rooms  in  the  older  khan  actually  had  glass  win- 
dows. We  found  the  markets  fairly  good,  and  it  was 
even  possible  to  buy  Syrian  wine  and  Norwegian  beer. 


THE    CITY   OF  ZEXOBIA.  II9 

There  were  some  covered  bazaars,  of  rude  construction 
to  be  sure,  and  more  were  in  process  of  erection.  One 
or  two  of  the  houses  which  I  visited  were  fairly  well  fur- 
nished in  semi-European  style,  although  the  exteriors 
presented  a  mean  appearance,  which  they  do  also  in 
Damascus,  for  that  matter.  The  streets  were  very  dirty, 
and  were  used  freely  for  iilthy  purposes.  The  mud, 
moreover,  was  peculiarly  sticky,  owing  to  the  lime  in  it. 

There  were  800  soldiers  stationed  at  Deir, — 400  in- 
fantry, and  400  mule-riders.  The  latter  are  the  suc- 
cessors of  the  camel  corps  employed  by  the  Romans  to 
keep  the  Arabs  in  check.  I  called  on  the  Mutessarif, 
and  presented  to  him  my  letter  from  the  Wali  of  Aleppo. 
He  was  very  affable,  and  answered  me  many  questions 
about  the  Arabs.  He  spoke  highly  of  Sheikh  Paris  of 
the  Shammar,  the  friend  of  Mr.  Wilfred  and  Lady  Anne 
Blunt,  of  whom  the  latter  speaks  so  favorably  in  The 
Bedouin  of  tJte  Euphrates,  and  said  that  he  was  in  good 
relations  with  the  government.  He  laughed  at  the  pre- 
tence of  civilizing  the  Shammar  at  Kalah  Sherghat,  under 
their  Sheikh,  Ferhan  Pasha,  and  said  that  Turki  Bej^  one 
of  the  head  sheikhs  of  the  Anazeh,  had  done  much  bet- 
ter, having  already  built  several  villages  near  Aleppo, 
and  promising  in  fifteen  years  to  have  all  the  Anazeh  in 
villages.  On  my  expressing  a  wish  to  have  some  photo- 
graphs of  Deir,  he  ordered  the  captain  of  the  zaptiehs  to 
send  an  escort  to  protect  us  against  the  children  of  the 
town,  a  precaution  which  proved  necessary.  He  also 
asked  for  photographs,  which  he  never  received,  as  they 
all  proved  failures.  The  Mutessarif 's  "  palace  "  is  a 
miserable  one-story  structure  of  field-stones  and  mud. 
Deir  used  to  be  a  part  of  the  vilayet  of  Aleppo,  but  the 
Mutessarif  now  reports  directly  to  the  Sultan.  Only  the 
revenues  are  paid  at  Aleppo,  and  cases  of  great  import- 
ance are  appealed  to  the  Wali  there. 

Sunday,  the  23d  of  December,  we  spent  resting.    Some 


120  XIPPUR. 

extracts  from  a  letter  written  on  that  day  may  supple- 
ment the  account  which  I  have  given  of  our  journeyings, 
and  furnish  a  more  vivid  picture  of  the  delights  of  travel 
along  the  Euphrates: — 

My  chief  difficulty  is  the  cold.  It  freezes  every 
night,  and  you  can  get  no  fuel  half  of  the  time;  and  the 
other  half,  when  you  do  get  some  wood,  you  are  suffo- 
cated with  the  smoke  and  cannot  stay  in  the  same  place 
with  your  fire.  However,  we  rise  anywhere  from  three 
to  half-past  four  in  the  morning,  and  get  under  way  a 
couple  of  hours  before  sunrise,  just  when  it  is  coldest. 
The  sun,  which  has  shone  all  the  time  since  we  left  Mes- 
kene,  is  very  warm  when  there  does  not  happen  to  be  a 
cold  wind  blowing,  and  toward  the  afternoon  we  gen- 
erally become  too  warm.  .  .  .  We  breakfast  standing, 
on  coffee,  native  bread,  or  hardtack,  and  canned  tunny 
fish.  At  noon  we  halt,  provided  we  have  not  been  so 
unlucky  as  to  become  separated,  and  lunch  on  cheese, 
dried  black  olives,  and  figs,  or  helvar,  a  sort  of  candy 
w^iich  Nordik,  our  cook,  carries  for  us.  We  dine  off 
bulgur  (cooked  wheat)  and  canned  corned  beef,  unless  we 
have  been  fortunate  enough  to  get  a  bird  or  two ;  but  we 
have  no  time  for  systematic  hunting,  and  the  game, 
though  abundant,  is  very  shy.  We  have  heard  many 
desperate  lion  stories,  but  so  far  the  lions  have  remained 
in  the  jungle.  The  whole  plain  is  rooted  up  by  wild 
boars,  but  we  have  not  seen  one  yet.  Jackals  howl  close 
to  us  each  night,  and  we  often  find  graves  which  they 
have  dug  up.  The  Arabs  have  occasioned  us  no  trouble. 
Hilprecht  and  Prince  say  that  when  I  came  suddenly  on 
some  in  the  jungle,  they  raised  their  guns  at  me,  and 
then,  seeing  others  behind,  desisted.  I  saw  nothing  of 
this.  I  made  a  salaam  and  they  returned  my  salute. 
I  do  not  see  how  these  poor  Arabs  live.  They 
are  not  half-clothed.  They  would  come  and  stand  about 
our  fire  to  warm  their  bare  legs,  and   I  have  seen  them 


THE   CITY  OF  ZENOBIA.  121 

wading  in  the  river,  clothes  and  all,  without  any  place  to 
warm  themselves  at  afterward.  Their  clothing  is  of  the 
thinnest.  They  live  in  black  tents,  open  in  front,  or 
closed  only  with  a  little  brush.  They  are  very  low  and 
degraded.  These  are  all  the  people  we  have  seen  since 
Saturday  the  15th  at  noon,  until  we  reached  Deir  yester- 
day. Deir  is  a  town  of  10,000  people,  planted  out  in  the 
desert  on  the  Euphrates.  The  houses  are  built  of  small 
stones  set  in  immense  amounts  of  plaster.  The  people 
are  hideous.  The  little  girls  frequently  have  their  hair 
stained  with  henna,  and  feather  tufts  are  placed  on  the 
heads  of  some  of  the  children,  like  red  Indian  ornaments. 
The  men  have  the  fore  part  of  the  head  shaved  like  the 
Persians.  The  facial  type  is  heavy  and  low.  Two  days 
of  last  week  we  could  not  get  water  to  wash  in,  although 
we  were  so  near  the  Euphrates,  and  even  when  we  can 
get  water,  washing  arrangements  are  poor  and  dirt  is 
rich." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

DEIR   TO    'ANAH. 

A  Fall  in  the  River — The  Captive  Israelites — The  Roman  Frontier — An 
Arab  Fortress — Rehoboth  of  the  River — Abundant  Ruins — Salahieh — 
An  Unknown  Palmyrene  Ruin — A  Fortress  of  Saladdin — Fauna  of  the 
Euphrates — Ruin  Mounds — Water-Wheels — Wild  Asses — Xenophon — 
Storms  on  the  Euphrates — Another  Unknown  CitV' — Zaptiehs  and  Bar- 
racks— Approaching  'Anah — Palm-Trees — A  Romantic  Situation — The 
Town  of  'Anah — The  Palace — The  Governor — History  of  'Anah — Half 
a  Century  Ago — 'Anah  of  To-day — The  People  of  'Anah — Arab  Cruelty 
— Mode  of  Travel. 

OUR  farewell  to  Deir  was  a  dispute  with  the  land- 
lord of  the  khan  over  the  amount  of  money  to 
be  paid  for  our  entertainment.  There  was  no  real  ques- 
tion ;  and  when  we  refused  to  be  imposed  upon,  and  took 
our  departure  without  paying  his  exorbitant  demands, 
he  seemed  to  conclude  that  we  were  in  the  right.  From 
Deir  we  took  with  us  but  one  zaptieh.  As  soon  as  our 
road  brought  us  to  the  river-bank,  we  went  down  to  the 
river,  as  usual,  to  water  our  horses.  Hilprecht's  horse, 
Marduk,  which  was  very  short-necked,  undertook  to 
step  a  little  into  the  water  in  order  to  drink  with  greater 
ease,  the  result  of  which  was  that  he  and  Hilprecht  both 
fell  in.  The  water  was  only  about  three  or  four  feet 
deep;  but  when  a  man  who  cannot  swim  falls  into  a 
river,  especially  if  the  river  is  icy  cold  and  he  is  on  the 
top  of  a  plunging  horse,  he  is  very  apt  to  feel  sure  that 
he  is  drowning,  and  do  everything  but  put  his  feet  on 
the  bottom.      For  everybody  excepting  Hilprecht,   who 


DEIR   TO   'AN AH.  1 23 

thought  that  his  last  moment  had  come,  and  the  horse, 
which  seemed  to  share  the  same  conviction,  it  was  a 
very  ludicrous  five  minutes  before  horse  and  rider  could 
be  pulled  out  of  the  shallow  water  and  set  on  tcri'a  firina 
again.  Unfortunately  our  luggage  had  gone  on  in  ad- 
vance, so  that  it  was  impossible  to  procure  a  change  of 
raiment ;  but  some  of  our  servants  half-stripped  them- 
selves to  furnish  dry  clothing,  and  the  final  result  Avas 
that  Hilprecht  and  our  head  man,  Mustafa,  were  both 
sick  for  the  next  few  days. 

Not  far  below  Deir,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river, 
Chesney  notes  a  "  mud  wall."  jMoritz  visited  this,  and 
found  it  to  be  a  ruin  of  some  importance,  which  he  pro- 
poses to  identify  with  the  ancient  Phaliga,  On  our  side 
of  the  river  Moritz  marked  a  ruin  mound  a  little  below 
Deir,  Tel  Gofra,  which  we  failed  to  see.  At  quarter 
before  eleven  we  reached  the  tel  of  Abu-Nahud.  This  is 
quite  a  small  mound  ;  but  the  surface  all  about  it  and  in 
fact  the  surface  of  the  whole  plain,  on  from  this  point, 
until  we  reached  the  end  of  our  journey  for  the  day,  was 
strewn  with  fragments  of  pottery.  Abu-Nahud  itself  is 
almost  a  mound  of  pottery;  and  the  same  was  true  of  the 
mound  of  Nahtum,  which  we  passed  at  2.20.  Moritz 
heard  this  called  Zubari.  It  is  almost  opposite  eb-Buseira, 
which  is  at  the  junction  of  the  Khabor  and  the  Euphrates. 
The  latter  presents  a  most  imposing  appearance  in  the 
distance,  looking  like  an  effective  fortress ;  but  we  were 
told  that  it  was  almost  in  ruins,  and  that  onl}-  fifteen 
zaptiehs  were  stationed  there. 

It  will  be  remembered,  that,  according  to  the  account 
in  the  17th  chapter  of  the  Second  Book  of  Kings,  the 
6th  verse,  "  the  king  of  Assyria  took  Samaria,  and  car- 
ried Israel  away  into  Assyria,  and  placed  them  in  Halah, 
and  by  the  Habor,  the  river  of  Gozan."  It  seems  to  be 
pretty  well  established  that  the  "  Habor"  here  men- 
tioned is  the  Khabor  of  Mesopotamia.      It   is  possible. 


124  NIPPUR. 

therefore,  that  some  of  the  large  population  which  at  an 
earlier  date  occupied  the  broad  plain  of  the  Euphrates 
opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Khabor  may  have  been  of 
Israelitic  origin ;  and  some  of  the  numerous  small  name- 
less mounds,  of  which  there  are  many  scattered  over  the 
plain,  may  cover  the  site  of  Israelite  towns  and  villages. 
At  all  events,  the  plain  was  once  v^ery  thickly  settled.  It 
is  unusually  broad — the  largest  plain  which  I  noticed 
along  the  middle  Euphrates — and  very  rich.  The  bluffs 
on  the  Arabian  side  trend  away  from  the  river  a  great 
distance,  and  are  so  low  that  they  scarcely  deserve  the 
name  of  bluffs;  but  rather  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates 
and  the  desert  plateau  seem  to  run  into  one  another. 
On  the  northern  or  Mesopotamian  side  of  the  river  also 
the  country  is  perfectly  flat,  the  only  hills  visible  being 
the  Hejef  tels  to  the  northwest  of  Deir. 

The  Khabor  was  from  the  time  of  Diocletian  the  fron- 
tier line  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  the  modern  eb- 
Buseira  represents  the  ancient  Circesium.  Ptolemy  gives 
this  place  as  Khaboras.  Earlier  it  was  called  Charax,  a 
name  which  Xenophon  transferred  by  mistake  to  the 
river.  He  found  here  a  large  and  important  settlement. 
When  the  Romans  fortified  the  town,  and  made  it  a 
frontier  fortress  against  the  Persians,  they  gave  it  the 
name  of  Circesium,  their  transliteration  or  adaptation  of 
Charax.  Ammianus  mentions  it  as  a  large  and  well- 
fortified  city  in  the  latter  half  of  the  fourth  century  A.D. 
It  was  captured  by  the  Arabs  in  639  A.D.  through  a 
treacherous  device  of  the  same  Yukina  who  captured 
Zenobia;  and  after  the  Arabic  conquest,  under  the  name 
of  Kirkasiyah  or  Karkisha,  it  still  continued  to  be  an 
important  city.  It  is  situated  on  the  edge  of  the  plateau 
overlooking  the  junction  of  the  Khabor  with  the  Eu- 
phrates, and  was  a  place  of  considerable  extent.  Sachau, 
who  visited  the  ruins,  describes  some  of  the  walls  as  of 
enormous  thickness,  and  built  of  bricks  with  a  great  deal 


DEIR  TO   'AX AH.  1 25 

of  mortar.  The  Talmud  and,  following  that,  Benjamin 
of  Tudela,  confuse  Karkisha  with  the  ancient  Hittite 
capital  of  Carchemish,  and  not  a  few  modern  writers  have 
followed  their  error.  Since  the  Turkish  conquest  the 
place  has  fallen  into  utter  ruins.  Chesney  and  Ains- 
worth  heard  it  called  Abu-serai  ("  father  of  palaces  "),  a 
name  derived  from  its  abundant  ruins;  and  I  fancy  that 
the  unmeaning  eb-Buseira  is  a  corruption  of  this  most 
appropriate  title.  There  are  also  some  ruins  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  Khabor,  which  represent  an  ancient 
suburb  of  Circesium. 

Diocletian  has  been  criticised  for  extending  the  Roman 
frontier  from  iSikephorium  on  the  Belikh,  to  Circesium 
on  the  Khabor;  but  it  must  be  said  that  the  Khabor, 
and  not  the  Belikh,  was  the  natural  frontier  of  the  Roman 
Empire  against  the  Persians.  As  far  as  the  Khabor, 
Mesopotamia  is  habitable,  and  to  a  considerable  extent  a 
fertile  country ;  whereas  beyond  the  Khabor  all  is  desert 
until  one  reaches  Babylonia.  Xenophon,  in  his  Anaba- 
sis, points  out  clearly  the  difference  of  the  two  regions. 
From  the  passage  of  the  Euphrates  at  Thapsacus,  to  the 
Khabor,  which  he  calls  Araxes,  there  were  many  towns 
and  villages  full  of  corn  and  wine;  but  beyond  the  Kha- 
bor the  country  was  a  plain,  level  as  the  sea,  without 
trees,  but  full  of  wormwood  and  aromatic  plants.  There 
were  no  inhabitants,  but  only  ostriches,  wild  asses,  bus- 
tards, and  gazelles.  On  the  Arabian  side  of  the  river 
the  Palmyrene  territory  extended  to  about  the  same 
point;  but  from  this  downward,  as  far  as  Babylonia,  the 
country  is  habitable  only  along  the  shore  of  the  Euphra- 
tes, and  all  behind  is  a  desert  fit  only  for  the  wander- 
ings of  bedouin  savages. 

The  caravan  went  directly  to  Meyadin,  the  goal  of  the 
day's  journey ;  but  Haynes,  Harper,  Field,  and  I  turned 
aside  to  visit  the  ruins  of  Rehabah,  on  the  brow  of  the 
plateau  directly  back  of  Meyadin.      On  the  edge  of  the 


126  NIPPUR. 

plateau,  twenty  minutes  to  the  west  of  Rehabah,  we  came 
to  a  ruin  which  I  supposed  to  be  the  Sheikh  Hannes 
of  Sachau.  It  was  Arabic,  and  seemed  to  be  a  tomb. 
Rehabah  itself  is  a  fortress  built  on  an  island  of  gypsum, 
in  part  artificially  sev^ered  from  the  plateau,  and  scarped  all 
around  to  make  it  steeper.  This  mound  was  paved  with 
blocks  of  stone,  like  the  artificial  mounds  on  the  Aleppo 
plain  already  described.  It  is  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  in  height,  and  steep  on  all  sides.  On  the  southeast- 
ern side  are  the  remains  of  an  old  road  or  stairway 
which  once  gave  admission  to  the  castle.  This  is  ir- 
regularly circular,  and  forms  a  castle  within  a  castle, 
having  an  outer  wall  of  stone  strengthened  by  towers, 
and  an  inner  circle  of  walls  of  brick  and  mortar.  The 
hard  red,  or  flesh-colored  breccia,  which  frequently  over- 
lies the  gypsum  and  marl  on  the  Arabian  plateau,  was 
freely  used  in  the  construction  of  the  outer  walls,  giving 
the  castle  a  color  effect  ven,'  different  from  that  of  other 
ruins  along  the  Euphrates;  so  that  Arab  writers  describe 
it  as  Rehabah  el-Hamra,  or  "  Rehabah  the  red."  On 
entering  the  ruin,  one  observes  that  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  the  fortress  was  built  of  bricks ;  and  the  casemated 
inner  walls  and  the  vaulted  substructures  of  the  interior, 
all  of  brick,  are  much  better  preserv'ed  than  the  outer 
walls  of  stone.  Abundance  of  ornamental  Arabic  tiles 
and  pottery,  as  well  as  glass  fragments,  occur  in  the  heaps 
of  rubbish  in  the  interior  of  the  castle.  Sachau  found 
on  a  high  inner  wall  on  the  western  side  of  the  castle  an 
illegible  inscription  in  Kufic  characters  on  black  and 
white  tiles ;  but,  although  we  searched  for  this  inscription, 
we  could  not  find  it.  Below  Rehabah,  on  the  plain,  are 
the  remains  of  other  buildings,  showing  that  at  some 
time  there  was  a  town  close  beneath  the  walls.  The 
whole  surface  of  the  plain  from  Rehabah  to  the  Eu- 
phrates at  INIeyadin  is  so  covered  with  fragments  of 
pottery  and  glass,  that  Sachau  supposed  that  the  town 


DEIR   TO   'AA'AH.  \2J 

must  have  cov-ered  all  the  intervening  space,  but  the 
entire  plain  northward  and  southward  is  similarly  strewn 
with  sherds  and  bits  of  glass,  and  the  whole  broad  plain  can 
scarcely  have  been  one  city.  Rather  the  plain  was  densely 
settled,  and  covered  with  numerous  unwalled  towns 
and  villages,  of  which  these  are  the  remains.  Rehabah 
was  built  to  protect  this  broad  and  fertile  plain,  and  re- 
ceived the  name  Rehabah  ("broad")  because  of  the 
breadth  of  the  plain.  In  front  of  it  there  is  a  deep, 
broad  trench,  the  bed  of  a  canal,  which  Idrisi  tells  us  was 
derived  from  the  river  at  this  point.  At  Rehabah  the 
caravan  road,  still  often  used  by  caravans  from  Damas- 
cus by  way  of  Palmyra,  reached  the  Euphrates.  Its 
position,  therefore,  was  one  of  considerable  strategic 
importance. 

On  account  of  the  name,  it  has  frequently  been  identi- 
fied with  "  Rehoboth  of  the  River,"  mentioned  in  Gen- 
esis xxxvi.,  37,  and  i  Chronicles  i.,  48,  as  the  city  of 
Shaul,  King  of  Edom.  Ainsworth,  who  identifies  the 
two,  says  that  he  found  here  "  a  great  number  of  bricks, 
the  surface  of  which  was  covered  Avith  \itrified  bitumen 
converted  into  green  slag,  similar  to  what  are  met  with 
in  many  other  Assyrian  ruins."  I  did  not  observe  any 
such  signs  of  antiquity.  According  to  Moritz,  an  Arabian 
writer  of  authority  distinctly  states  that  it  was  built  in 
the  first  half  of  the  ninth  century  A.D.,  in  the  time  of 
Caliph  ]Mamun,  son  and  successor  of  Harun-er-Rashid, 
by  his  general,  Malik-ibn-Tauk,  on  a  new  spot,  where  no 
castle  had  stood  before  ;  but  Ainsworth  quotes  al-Wakedi 
as  naming  Rehabah  among  the  places  conquered  by  the 
Arabs  from  the  Christians  before  Rakka,  and  as  being 
the  site  of  a  Christian  bishopric.  It  is  mentioned  in 
Arab  annals  at  various  times  as  a  place  of  considerable 
importance,  and  especially  as  offering  a  successful  resist- 
ance on  more  than  one  occasion  to  the  attacks  of  the 
Mongols.      Indeed,  it  was  an  almost  impregnable  outpost 


128  NIPPUR. 

of  the  ^Mameluke  Sultans  against  those  invaders  at  the 
close  of  the  thirteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  four- 
teenth century  A.D.  Half  a  century  after  the  Turkish 
conquest,  in  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  it  is 
described  by  a  contemporary  traveller  as  in  ruins,  with 
but  a  few  poor  inhabitants.  Now  it  is  entirely  deserted, 
but  is  still  one  of  the  best-preserved  and  most  picturesque 
ruins  along  the  Euphrates. 

Between  Rehabah  and  Meyadin,  as  already  stated,  we 
found  quantities  of  sherds,  a  canal  bed,  and  the  remains 
of  a  few  houses.  Meyadin  lies  in  front  of  Rehabah,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Euphrates.  It  stands  on  a  mound  of 
debris  of  considerable  height,  evidently  the  accumula- 
tion of  a  long  period  of  occupation.  On  the  riverside 
Sachau  observed  the  remains  of  a  massive  brick  wall. 
Excavations  conducted  for  the  practical  purpose  of 
obtaining  stones  for  building  new  houses  have  unearthed 
coins  of  the  time  of  Abu-Bekr,  but  nothing  earlier,  so  far 
as  I  could  ascertain,  although  there  must  be  older  remains 
beneath.  The  surface-remains,  here  and  over  the  whole 
plain,  may  be  referred  to  the  Arabic  period,  from  the  time 
of  the  conquest  onward.  The  period  of  the  Abbasside 
Caliphate  at  Baghdad  was  evidently  a  period  of  peculiar 
prosperity  to  this  region. 

We  reached  ^leyadin  after  dark,  and  found  the  rest  of 
the  party  installed  in  the  so-called  palace  of  the  Kaima- 
kam, — a  one-story  structure,  built  of  small  stones  and 
mud.  Meyadin  seemed  to  be  a  thriving  town  of  eighty 
families.  I  noticed  a  couple  of  palm-trees  there  ;  but  the 
real  palm  country  commences  a  week's  journe\'  farther 
down  the  river,  and  palm-culture  at  Deir  or  Meyadin  is 
rather  a  luxury  than  a  matter  of  profit.  Between  Meya- 
din and  Deir,  along  the  course  of  the  Euphrates,  are  sev- 
eral small  villages  which  we  did  not  visit,  as  our  course 
was  in  a  straight  line  southeast  over  the  plain  from  one 
point  to  the  other.      A^illages  are  still  more  numerous  on 


DEIR  TO  'AN AH.  1 29 

the  shores  of  the  Euphrates  below  IVIeyadin ;  and  some  of 
these  latter,  like  Ishara,  which  is  situated  on  a  tel  higher 
even  than  that  of  Meyadin,  are  evidently  heirs  of  ancient 
sites. 

The  next  morning,  Christmas  Day,  we  were  up  at  four 
o'clock,  and  the  caravan  was  under  way  at  a  few  minutes 
past  five.  We  were  still  crossing  the  broad  plain  in  a 
direction  south  of  southeast,  moving  toward  the  point  at 
which  the  river  and  the  bluffs  again  come  together.  As 
we  rode  along  the  plain,  we  could  see  on  the  bluff  beyond 
Rehabah,  first  the  small  ruin  of  esh-Shibli,  then  es-Sereij, 
and  finally,  where  the  bluff  bends  well  in  and  is  low. 
Imam  'Ali.  All  these  are  ruins  of  Arabic  towns  occupied 
when  Rehabah  was  a  fortress,  and  when  a  canal  carried 
the  waters  of  the  river  close  to  the  bluffs.  The  last  of 
the  three,  which  I  visited,  consisted  of  a  ruined  mosque 
and  minaret,  and  a  number  of  modern-looking  houses, 
just  such  as  one  sees  in  the  present  towns  along  the  river, 
together  with  a  graveyard.  Hilprecht  and  Prince  visited 
es-Sereij,  and  reported  it  to  be  of  the  same  character; 
and  the  zaptieh  made  a  similar  report  concerning  Shibli. 
The  towns  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  of  which  we 
passed  three  in  rapid  succession,  Ishara  being  first  and 
most  important,  are  larger  than  those  on  the  bluff,  and 
are  still  inhabited,  while  the  latter  are  deserted.  There 
is  no  longer  any  channel  for  the  river  near  the  bluffs,  as 
there  formerly  was;  and  there  is  no  strong  power  which 
holds  the  Arabs  in  check  by  means  of  a  fortress  like 
Rehabah.  The  consequence  is,  that  the  towns  and  vil- 
lages, such  as  there  are,  are  confined  to  the  valley  of  the 
stream,  standing  on  the  very  banks  of  the  river.  It 
would  not  be  considered  safe,  even  if  the  water  for  house 
use  and  for  irrigation  could  readily  be  obtained,  to  place 
a  village  or  town  at  the  present  time  upon  the  plateau. 
It  would  be  too  much  exposed  to  the  raids  of  the  bedouin  ; 
and  the  latter  would  surely  look  upon  the  choice  of  such 


I30  NIPPUR. 

a  position  as  a  sort  of  challenge  to  them,  and  an  invasion 
of  their  territory.  The  towns  and  villages  along  the 
river,  even  those  as  large  and  important  as  Meyadin,  are 
compelled  to  pay  the  bedouin  the  so-called  kubbe,  or 
brotherhood  money, — a  blackmail  of  variable  amount, 
levied  in  the  same  manner  in  which  the  Highlanders  of 
former  centuries  were  wont  to  levy  on  the  Lowlanders 
in  Scotland,  or  in  which  David,  when  he  was  a  free- 
booter, levied  upon  the  churlish  Nabal.  If  the  kubbe  is 
paid,  the  Arabs  are  supposed  to  protect  those  who  have 
shown  themselves  so  brotherly  and  kind  ;  but  if  the  kubbe 
is  not  paid,  they  not  only  do  not  protect  them,  but  may 
even  themselves  raid  them,  precisely  as  David  proposed 
to  raid  Nabal  for  refusing  to  pay  blackmail  because  none 
of  the  latter's  flock  had  been  stolen.  Sachau,  in  his 
Reise  in  Syricn  und  Mcsopotamicn,  describing  his  journey 
of  the  winter  of  1879-80,  states  that  Ishara  was  deserted. 
I  found  it  a  large  and  flourishing  village  under  the  Kai- 
makam  of  Meyadin. 

Somewhere  about  this  point,  but  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  river,  stood  that  Zeitha  where,  after  conquering 
the  Persians,  the  Emperor  Gordian  was  murdered,  and 
his  coadjutor,  Philip  the  Arabian,  made  sole  Emperor  in 
244  A.D.  After  murdering  Gordian,  the  troops  erected 
a  tumulus  in  his  honor,  which  is  often  mentioned  by  later 
writers. 

At  about  11.30,  shortly  after  passing  the  large  vil- 
lage of  Abd-ul-Hamid,  we  came  to  the  village  of 
Shueit.  Just  beyond  Shueit,  the  river  runs  up  to  the 
bluffs  of  the  plateau,  which  have  again  become  pro- 
nounced and  high,  and  the  road  leads  back  over  the 
plateau.  Here  the  canal  which  ran  by  Rehabah  formerly 
rejoined  the  Euphrates.  Around  Shueit  the  plain  was 
better  cultivated  than  before,  and  the  durra  fields  were 
very  extensive.  It  will  be  evident  from  the  account 
which  I  have  given,  that  this  part  of  the  Euphrates  Val- 


DEIR  TO   'AX AH. 


131 


ley,  about  the  junction  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Kha- 
bor,  was  once  very  populous;  and  even  yet  it  is  the  most 
thickly  settled  portion  of  the  stream  between  Birejik  and 
Hillah. 

A  ride  of  three  hours  and  a  quarter  across  the  plateau 
brought  us  to  the  noble  ruins  of  Salahieh.  The  effect  as 
one  approaches  Salahieh  from  the  plateau  is  very  strik- 
ing. The  traveller  sees  rising  before  him  out  of  the 
desert  a  fortified  city,  which  seems  at  first  sight  to  be 
still  inhabited.  A  wall,  some  fifteen  feet  in  height  at 
the  present  day,  built  of  gypsum,  stretches  along  the 
plateau  almost  north  and  south  from  one  ravine  to  an- 
other, a  distance  of  about  half  a  mile.  In  the  centre  of 
this  wall  gate-towers  still  stand,  well  preserved,  to  the 
height  of  thirty  or  forty  feet.  The  more  northern  of  the 
two  gate-towers  of  this  central  gate  is  so  well  preserved, 
that  one  can  go  into  the  rooms  of  the  second  story. 
There  is  another  smaller  gate  northward  of  this.  The 
thickness  of  the  walls  is  about  ten  feet.  The  city  was 
built  on  a  rectangular  plan,  so  far  as  the  conformation  of 
the  cliffs  allowed.  As  already  stated,  two  ravines  run- 
ning down  into  the  valley  were  taken  advantage  of  to 
strengthen  the  situation  of  the  town  on  the  north  and 
south.  On  the  east,  its  strongest  fortification  was  the 
edge  of  the  plateau,  the  bluffs  being  at  this  point  some 
two  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  valley  of  the 
river.  The  streets  all  run  at  right  angles,  and  can  be  read- 
ily traced  by  the  lines  of  the  house  foundations  in  gyp- 
sum. The  main  streets  are  about  fifty  feet  in  breadth 
from  house  line  to  house  line,  the  others  narrower.  At 
the  northeastern  corner,  at  the  point  marked  H,  on  a 
small  point  or  promontory  jutting  out  at  an  angle,  was  a 
citadel.  The  inner  wall  of  this  toward  the  city  still 
stands  to  a  great  height ;  but  the  larger  part  of  the  outer 
wall,  if  there  ever  was  one,  on  tlie  edge  of  the  precipice, 
must  be  buried  in  the  vast  masses  of  rock  which  have 


132 


NIPPUR. 


broken  off  and  fallen  into  the  plain.  The  rock  of  the 
cliffs  is  so  stratified  that  the  softer  strata  are  beneath. 
As  air  and  water  wear  away  these  softer  strata,  great 
blocks  break  off  from  above,  and  are  precipitated  into  the 
plain  below.  There  are  some  heaps  of  ruins  within  the 
city,  but  nothing  which  looks  like  a  building  of  import- 
ance,   and   no  inscription,    no    columns    or   decorations. 


0 


Q 


PLAN  OF  SALAHIEH. 
A — Great  wall  across  plateau  from  ravine  to  ravine  ;  B — Small  wall  on  edge  of  bluffs  ; 
C — Place  where  no  wall  can  be  surely  traced  ;  D — Wall  guarding  pass  up  face  of  bluff 
from  Euphrates  Valley;  E  E — Ravines;  F — Main  gate;  G — Small  gate;  H — Citadel; 
I — Space  within  walls  occupied  by  houses,  accessible  only  by  path  through  D  ;  K — Ruined 
tower  tomb  ;   L — Mass  of  ruins. 

Everything  is  rectangular  and  massive.  F  is  the  main 
gate;  G,  a  smaller  gate  north  of  this;  H,  the  citadel;  K, 
the  ruin  of  a  massive  tower,  apparently  a  tomb,  on  the 
plateau,  and  a  little  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  the 


DEIR  TO   'AN AH. 


133 


northwest  of  the  city ;  L,  a  small  shapeless  heap  of  ruins 
between  that  and  the  city,  perhaps  the  ruins  of  another 
and  smaller  tomb.  There  is  a  ruin  on  a  promontory  to  the 
northeast,  separated  from  the  city  by  a  deep  ravine.  I 
did  not  visit  this,  but  suppose  it  to  have  been  the  remains 
of  still  another  tomb.  I  have  been  unable  to  ascertain 
the  ancient  name  of  this  place,  or  to  find  any  reference 
to  it  in  ancient  writers.  Its  modern  name,  Salahieh 
(belonging  to  Salah  ;  that  is,  Salah-ud-Din),  gives  evidence 
that  it  played  some  j'Slc  in  the  wars  of  the  famous  Salad- 
din  ;  but  its  architecture  and  its  tombs  show  that  it  was 
originally  built  by  the  Palmyrenes.  It  holds  a  strong 
position  on  the  plateau,  with  a  broad  plain  below  it 
southward,  while  immediately  beneath  it  the  Euphrates 
flows  close  to  the  bluffs,  so  that  this  fortress  controls  the 
passage  absolutely.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  southern 
fortress  of  the  Palmyrene  territory  on  the  Euphrates,  as 
Zenobia  was  the  northern.  Kiepert's  map  marks  roads 
from  this  point  back  to  Sukhne,  near  Palmyra;  and  I  am 
inclined  to  think  that  there  was  a  direct  route  from  here 
over  the  desert,  shortening  the  distance  to  Palmyra, 
although  I  could  not  obtain  any  reliable  information  with 
regard  to  the  existence  of  old  wells  or  stations  indicating 
such  a  road. 

I  have  already,  in  the  previous  chapter,  called  attention 
to  Procopius'  account  of  the  three  fortresses  in  the  desert 
toward  the  Persian  frontier  fortified  by  Justinian.  The 
most  southerly  of  these,  named  Mambri,  he  describes  as 
five  milestones  from  Zenobia.  Now,  five  milestones  below 
Zenobia  there  is  nothing.  If  we  could  substitute  for 
five  milestones  {(yr]).ieia)  five  stages  {oradia^,  we  might 
suppose  Salahieh  to  be  Mambri.  It  is,  at  all  events,  safe 
to  say  that  whoever  built  Zenobia,  built  Salahieh  also. 
Another  name  which  some  travellers  have  heard  for  this 
ruin  is  the  Turkish  name  of  Kan  Kalessi  (' '  bloody  castle  ' '). 

The  zaptieh  whom  we  had  on  this  day  was  very  igno- 


134  NIPPUR. 

rant  of  the  country,  and  unable  to  give  us  so  much  as 
the  name  of  the  ruins,  much  less  to  tell  anything  about 
the  roads  desertward  from  Salahieh.  He  had  not  been 
long  on  the  station,  and  the  government  had  not  paid 
him  for  four  months,  which  was  nothing  unusual.  A 
shepherd  showed  us  a  road  down  the  bluff  to  the  plain. 
It  was  a  narrow  and  difficult  path,  but  had  evidently 
been  used  in  ancient  times  as  well  as  at  present,  since 
there  were  traces  of  fortifications  to  guard  it.  In  the 
face  of  the  bluffs  below  the  old  town  we  noticed  a 
number  of  very  pretty  birds,  which  we  mistook  for  some 
new  species  of  doves,  and  which  we  saw  at  no  other  place 
along  the  river.  I  find  that  the  English  expedition  sixty 
years  before  had  observed  a  colony  of  these  birds  at  this 
same  place,  and  nowhere  else.     Ainsworth  says  (vol.  i., 

P-   377): 

"  Most  rivers  of  the  extent  and  magnitude  of  the 
Euphrates  have  some  forms  of  animal  life  peculiar  to  them- 
selves,— some  their  hippopotami,  their  crocodiles,  or  alli- 
gators; others,  as  in  South  America,  their  river  porpoises 
and  manati  or  sea-cows.  As  yet  the  Euphrates  had  only 
presented  us  with  two  remarkable  typical  representatives, 
— the  large  and  fierce  trionyx  or  turtle,  and  the  gigantic 
lizards  or  monitors;  but  we  were  destined  to  be  charmed 
at  this  spot  (and  at  this  spot  only)  b.y  the  presence  of  a 
beautiful  and  elegant  little  bird,  a  tern  or  sea-swallow, 
which,  building  in  the  cliffs  above,  now  congregated  in 
numbers  at  the  bows  of  the  steamer,  or  flitted  about, 
imparting  life  and  animation  to  scenery  which,  it  must 
be  admitted,  was,  from  the  general  absence  of  animal 
life,  dull  and  dreary  enough. 

This  pretty  bird  was  six  inches  in  length  from  bill  to 
tail,  and  twenty-three  inches  in  extent  of  wings.  The 
head,  neck,  back,  and  belly  feathers  were  jet  black ;  the 
inner  and  upper  wing  coverts,  black;  upper  and  outer 
scapular  and  humeral  portions  of  the  wings,  pure  white; 


DEIR  TO   \4NAH.  1 35 

the  lower  wing  coverts  and  lower  dorsal  regions,  ashy 
blue;  the  bill,  flesh-colored;  the  legs,  orange-red.  In 
the  young  birds  the  belly  was  spotted,  and  the  wing 
coverts  were  gray. 

About  an  hour  beyond  the  ruins  of  Salahieh  on  the 
plain  stand  the  modern  zaptieh  barracks,  where  we  spent 
the  night.  It  was  Christmas  evening,  and  we  held  a  brief 
service  in  memory  of  the  great  event  of  that  day.  The 
next  day's  ride  was  a  short  one  over  a  broad  plain,  through 
sparse  tamarisk  jungle.  At  nine  o'clock  we  passed  the 
small  mud  village  of  Mujawada,  on  the  Euphrates,  partly 
in  ruins.  At  twelve  o'clock  we  passed  a  ruin  mound 
called  tel  Medkuk,  sixty  feet  in  height,  with  graves  on 
the  top,  small  and  very  conical.  Half  a  mile  farther  on 
w'e  saw  another  smaller,  unnamed  mound.  There  was  no 
pottery  on  either  mound,  but  quite  a  considerable  amount 
between  them.  To  what  date  the  ancient  site  or  sites 
represented  by  these  mounds  belonged,  we  could  not  con- 
jecture from  anything  on  the  surface.  At  twenty  min- 
utes before  two  we  reached  the  little  town  of  Abu-Kemal, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  built  partly  of  mud  huts, 
partly  of  tents  and  reed  huts.  This  is  the  residence  of  a 
kaimakam ;  but  he  has  no  mudirs  under  him,  and  his 
"  palace  "  is  a  miserable  little  mud  hovel.  He  very  hos- 
pitably vacated  for  our  benefit  two  rooms  on  the  roof  of 
this  "  palace,"  and  another  small  room  was  assigned  to 
our  servants.  W'e  did  not  exchange  visits  with  him, 
because  he  did  not  seem  to  care  for  this  courtesy;  but 
instead  he  sent  for  Noorian,  and  questioned  him  about 
America. 

There  was  a  rude  ferry  here,  and  here  for  the  first  time 
we  saw  ox  water-wheels  working.  These,  which  are  the 
characteristic  water-wheels  of  the  Babylonian  plain  (jird 
is  their  native  name),  consist  first  of  an  excavation  in  the 
river-bank,  down  which  the  water-skins  can  be  lowered 
perpendicularly   to   the   water.       Above   this   there    is    a 


136  XIPPUR. 

framework  sustaining  two  block  wheels,  about  which 
the  ropes  run.  From  this  a  decline  is  cut  landward, 
which  the  oxen  (ordinarily  there  are  two  wheels  together) 
descend  to  drag  up  the  skins,  and  ascend  to  lower 
them.  To  the  bottom  of  each  skin  is  attached  a  long 
rope,  and  to  the  neck  a  shorter  one ;  so  that  the  neck  is 
held  up  and  the  water  held  in  until  the  wicker  platform 
is  reached,  on  which,  by  the  action  of  the  ropes  them- 
selves, it  is  poured  out.  From  this  platform  it  is  distri- 
buted, sometimes  to  a  great  distance,  by  little  mud-built 
channels.  These  wheels  are  in  operation  from  before 
sunrise  until  after  sunset. 

On  another  trip  I  noticed  at  Abu-Kemal  a  mule  with 
the  shape  and  markings  of  a  wild  ass.  On  the  bas-reliefs 
of  Ashurbanipal's  palace  at  Nineveh  there  are  several 
representations  of  wild-ass  hunts.  Xenophon  found 
these  animals  still  very  numerous  in  the  IMesopotamian 
desert  in  his  day.  Chesney  sought  for  them  without 
success,  but  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  skin  of  one  from 
a  native;  and  Layard  says  that  he  heard  one  bray  in  the 
Sinjar  hills  on  the  other  edge  of  the  desert.  Evidently 
they  are  now  reduced  to  a  dodo  remnant.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  lions,  once  so  common  over  all  western  Asia, 
The  elephant  and  ostrich,  formerly  inhabitants  of  these 
regions,  have  vanished  altogether. 

From  Abu-Kemal  we  could  see,  a  few  miles  to  the 
southwest,  low  hills  with  three  low  peaks,  called  Thela- 
tha,  ("  the  three"),  which  are  quite  a  landmark.  A  little 
to  the  east  of  south  in  the  distance  was  visible  el-Kaim, 
where  are  Arabic  ruins.  On  the  other  side  of  the  river 
was  an  approaching  line  of  bluffs,  on  the  point  of  which, 
between  Abu-Kemal  and  el-Kaim,  were  the  ruins  of 
el-Trsi,  extremely  picturesque  to  look  at.  Kiepert's  map, 
following  the  map  of  the  English  expedition  under  Ches- 
ney, has  a  number  of  errors  at  this  point.  Several  towns 
given  by  him  do  not  now  exist,  and  probably  never  did. 


DEIR   TO    'ANAH. 


137 


They  are  the  names  of  tent  villages,  which  appear  and 
disappear  with  great  rapidity.  Even  the  mud  villages 
are  by  no  means  permanent,  and  the  names  of  localities 
change  frequently:  so,  where  Chesney  found  the  name 
Ouerdi  opposite  Abu-Kemal,  we  found  the  name  Suwe. 
The  British  explorers  observed  a  river  or  canal  entering 
the  Euphrates  a  little  above  the  hills  on  which  the  ruins 
of  Trsi  stand.  For  this  they  heard  the  name  Musah. 
Xenophon,  in  his  account  of  Cyrus's  march  against  his 
brother  Artaxerxes,  says,  that,  after  leaving  the  river 
Khabor,  they  marched  through  a  desert  five  days'  journey 
(thirty-five  parasangs),  and  came  "  to  the  river  Maska,  a 
plethron  broad ;  where  was  a  large  deserted  city,  named 
Korsote,  which  is  surrounded  by  the  Maska."  Ains- 
worth  identifies  the  Musah  with  the  Maska;  and,  as  there 
is  no  other  river  reported  as  entering  the  Euphrates  on 
the  Mesopotamian  side  within  possible  limits,  the  identi- 
fication is  presumably  correct.  In  that  case,  Korsote 
would  have  been  a  little  west  of  'Irsi  on  the  plain.  If 
Xenophon's  parasangs  were  of  the  proper  length,  this 
situation  would  be  impossible,  and  we  should  have  to 
look  for  Korsote  and  the  ]\Iaska  much  farther  down 
stream.  But  a  study  of  the  map  in  comparison  with 
Xenophon's  text  will  show  that  his  parasangs  vary  some- 
what according  to  the  country  traversed.  According  to 
him,  Cyrus  marched  from  Thapsacus  to  the  Khabor  in 
nine  days,  fifty  parasangs.  From  the  Khabor  to  Pyls,  the 
gates  of  Babylonia,  he  marched  in  eighteen  days,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  parasangs.  There  were  two  and  a 
half  times  as  many  parasangs  from  the  Khabor  to  Pylte  as 
from  Thapsacus  to  the  Khabor,  but  by  actual  measure- 
ment the  distance  is  less  than  twice  as  great.  Accord- 
ingly the  parasangs  below  the  Khabor  must  be  counted 
as  shorter  than  those  above.  Properly  speaking,  the  para- 
sang  is  an  hour's  journey;  that  is,  about  two  and  three 
quarters  miles,  varying  to  two  and  a  half  or  three  miles. 


138  NIPPUR. 

It  was  off  the  mouth  of  the  Musah  that  one  of  the 
steamboats  of  Chesney's  expedition,  the  Tigris,  was 
sunk  in  a  hurricane,  and  twenty  men  lost.  Ainsworth 
gives  a  detailed  account  of  this  incident,  and  a  vivid 
description  of  the  extreme  violence  of  wind  storms  on  the 
Euphrates,  one  of  which  in  a  similar  manner  overwhelmed 
part  of  Julian's  fleet  of  iioo  boats  at  'Anah,  causing 
great  loss  of  life. 

Somewhere  between  'Irsi  and  Zeitha  stood,  I  should 
judge,  the  city  of  Dura  or  Europus,  built  by  the  Mace- 
donians in  the  fourth  century  B.C.  Julian  found  the 
place  deserted  in  the  fourth  century  A.D.,  and  no  modern 
traveller  has  found  any  trace  of  the  site. 

The  following  morning  we  started  from  Abu-Kemal  at 
6.25,  reaching  el-Kaim,  our  destination,  at  12.20.  It  was 
a  day  of  wadis,  several  of  which,  of  large  size,  come 
down  from  the  plateau  between  Abu-Kemal  and  el-Kaim. 
Chief  of  these  are  Wadi  AH  and  Wadi  Jaber.  We  passed 
the  latter  of  these  two  wadis  some  four  hours  and  twenty 
minutes  after  leaving  Abu-Kemal,  and  ttn  minutes  later 
reached  the  large  ruins  of  Jabrieh,  incorrectly  given  by 
Kiepert  as  a  village  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  The 
wall  on  the  south  side  of  this  ruin,  running  east  and 
west,  is  twelve  hundred  paces  long.  The  west  wall,  run- 
ning at  right  angles  with  the  south  wall  for  nine  hundred 
paces,  ends  in  a  great  mound  or  series  of  mounds,  which 
represent,  probably,  the  citadel,  including  the  palace  and 
temple  of  the  town.  The  east  wall  starts  out  at  right 
angles  to  the  south  wall,  but  after  two  hundred  paces  it 
seems  to  have  come  to  the  bed  of  the  river,  and  so  bends 
gradually  around  until  it  reaches  the  mound  in  the  north- 
west. The  river  now  lies  some  distance  away  from  the 
town.  Its  bed  is  constantly  shifting,  and  it  is  broken 
into  more  than  one  channel  by  islands.  These  walls 
were  built  of  unbaked  brick;  and  the  south  wall  at  the 
present    time   is  a   succession   of   conical  tels,   the  large 


DEIR  TO  'ANAH. 


139 


bricks  of  which  it  was  built  showing  at  only  a  few  places. 
Inside  of  the  outer  walls  of  unbaked  brick  was  an  inner 
wall  of  baked  brick.  The  interior  of  the  ruins  was  very 
thickly  strewn  with  fragments  of  bricks  and  stone  and 
Gt  G. 


PLAN    OF   JABRIEH. 


A — Outer  wall  of  unbaked  brick ;  B — Inner  line  of  walls  ;  C — Gateway  with  remains 
of  stone  structures ;  D — Remains  of  brick  buildings  ;  E — Large  high  mound  of  citadel 
covered  with  shapeless  masses  of  stone;  E — Foundation  walls  of  buildings;  F — Probable 
ancient  course  of  river;  G  G — City  Gates;   I — Wall  like  mound. 

potsherds,  mostly  of  a  green  color,  very  few  of  which 
were  glazed  or  in  any  way  ornamented.  The  zaptieh 
said  that  sometimes  coins  were  found  here,  but  we  could 
not  procure  any  specimens  in  the  neighborhood ;  nor 
could  he  give  us  such  a  description  as  to  enable  us  to 
ascertain  what  was  the  character  of  the  coins,  or  even  to 


I40  NIPPUR. 

make  it  certain  that  any  had  been  found.  Rude  as  was 
the  pottery  found  here,  it  should  be  said  that  it  is  supe- 
rior to  that  now  in  use  among  the  few  miserable  natives 
in  this  region. 

The  plan  of  the  city  was  somewhat  thus :  A  A  repre- 
sents the  south  wall,  twelve  hundred  paces  in  length. 
At  the  eastern  end  the  wall  is  so  well  preserved  that  the 
individual  bricks  are  clearly  distinguishable,  E  is  a  large 
mound  or  mounds,  much  cut  up  by  gulleys,  where  stood 
originally,  I  suppose,  the  temple  and  palace,  which  con- 
stituted the  citadel  of  the  place.  On  this  mound  there  is 
a  modern  graveyard  ;  and  at  one  point,  E',  there  are  the 
remains  of  a  structure  of  stone,  which  seems  to  have 
been  built  at  a  date  more  recent  than  the  date  of  the 
original  buildings  which  occupied  this  mound,  as  the 
materials  of  those  buildings  were  used  in  its  construction. 
At  B  are  the  remains  of  what  appears  to  be  an  inner  line 
of  walls  of  baked  brick.  D  is  the  ruins  of  some  building 
of  no  ver^'  great  size.  G  and  G  are  gates  in  the  southern 
wall.  C  is  a  gate  to  the  inner  town.  This  was  more 
elaborate  and  substantial  than  the  gates  in  the  outer  wall, 
and  w^as  provided  with  stone  threshold  and  door-posts. 
One  traveller  who  observed  these  ruins  supposed  them  to 
belong  to  the  Assyrian-Babylonian  period,  on  account  of 
the  sun-dried  brick  walls ;  but  such  walls  were  in  use 
everywhere  in  early  times,  and  are  found  in  Palestine  as 
well  as  in  Babylonia.  The  earth  walls  are,  however,  an 
evidence  that  the  city  was  not  built  by  the  Romans  or 
the  Palmyrenes.  What  ancient  site  we  have  here,  and 
to  what  period  the  ruins  really  belong,  I  do  not  know. 
Chesney  in  his  map  gives  these  ruins  as  'Anka,  and  iden- 
tifies the  site  with  Phcenix. 

I  noticed  that  the  baked  bricks  scattered  over  the  sur- 
face of  the  mound  are  somewhat  greenish  in  color,  the 
same  thing  which  we  observed  later  at  'Anbar  and  various 
other  points  in  Babylonia ;  but  this  is  due  to  lack  of  iron 


DEIR  TO   \4XAH.  I4I 

in  the  clay,  and  can  scarcely  be  taken  as  an  indication  of 
date.  So,  also,  the  potsherds,  which  were  strewn  over 
the  surface  of  the  city  within  the  walls  in  large  quan- 
tities, were  of  a  character  too  general  to  allow  dating,  at 
least  on  the  basis  of  our  present  knowledge.  The  build- 
ing-stones which  had  been  used  were  generally  g}''psum 
from  the  blufTs  on  the  plateau  near  by,  but  we  also  found 
pieces  of  a  volcanic  stone. 

At  el-Kaim,  where  we  spent  the  night  in  the  zaptieh 
barracks,  there  are  the  remains  of  some  structure,  ap- 
parently of  Arabic  origin.  There  are  also  four  or  five 
ruined  water-wheels,  or  naouras,  at  this  point,  and,  from 
el-Kaim,  downward  to  Hit,  these  are  the  characteristic 
ruins.  At  the  present  day  not  one  in  ten  of  these 
naouras  still  serves  to  raise  water;  but  Chesney's  expedi- 


WATER-WHEELS    ON    THE    EUPHRATES. 

tion,  in  1837,  reported  two  thirds  of  them  to  be  in  use. 
This  is  only  one  of  the  evidences  of  progressive  retrogres- 
sion within  this  century  in  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates. 

El-Kaim  lies  on  a  low  point  of  the  plateau  which  runs 
almost  to  the  banks  of  the  river.  The  existence  of  the 
ruins  of  Trsi  on  the  Mesopotamian  side  of  the  river,  with 
Jabrieh  and  el-Kaim  close  together  on  the  Arabic  side, 
would  seem  to  show  that  at  one  time  this  was  a  populous 
and  important  section.  Ainsworth  says  that  sixty  years 
ago  this  was  the  point  at  which  caravans  from  southern 


142  NIPPUR. 

Syria  and  Palestine  to  Baghdad  and  Persia  first  touched 
the  Euphrates.  I  did  not  hear  of  any  such  route  exist- 
ing now;  but  I  met  native's  later  who  had  made  the 
journey  from  Aleppo  to  Baghdad  by  a  route  south  of 
the  Euphrates,  only  touching  that  river  at  one  or  two 
points.  Ainsworth  identifies  el-Kaim  with  the  Agamna 
of  Ptolemy. 

We  had  very  poor  quarters  in  the  barracks;  and  I,  with 
Field  and  Harper,  occupied  one  of  the  small  rooms  over 
the  gate.  The  floor  of  this  room  consisted  chiefly  of 
large  holes ;  and  the  stairway,  by  which  access  was  had  to 
the  court,  was  almost  entirely  broken  away,  so  that  we 
had  to  reach  our  quarters  by  scrambling.  The  zaptieh 
stations  along  the  river  are  all  in  a  miserable  condition. 
Almost  all  of  them  are  dilapidated,  some  of  them  to  such 
an  extent  that  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  they  can  continue 
to  be  inhabited ;  while  at  not  a  few  places  they  have 
fallen  to  pieces  altogether,  or  have  been  swept  away  by 
the  river.  The  road  is  no  longer  used  as  a  post  road  ;  but 
the  government  continues  to  maintain  zaptieh  stations 
for  the  purpose  of  holding  the  line  of  the  Euphrates,  col- 
lecting taxes  from  the  few  unfortunate  inhabitants  of  the 
valley,  and  keeping  watch  on  the  bedouin.  At  el-Kaim 
there  was  a  mudir,  who  was  compelled  to  hold  his  court 
of  justice  in  the  open  air.  In  spite  of  a  cold,  raw  wind,  I 
enjoyed  a  bath  in  the  river  after  the  hot  ride  of  the  day. 

Friday,  December  28th,  we  arose  at  four  o'clock,  and 
were  under  way  by  5.16,  reaching  Nahia  at  1.55.  The 
river  makes  a  bend  at  this  point ;  and  our  course  turned 
from  the  southeast,  Avhich  it  had  been  since  leaving  Deir, 
to  north  of  east.  It  would  have  been  a  great  saving  in 
distance  could  we  have  gone  in  a  direct  line  from  el-Kaim 
to  'Anah,  but  this  seemed  to  be  impracticable  on  account 
of  the  Arabs.  We  found  the  map  incorrect  in  the  names  of 
places,  and,  in  general,  the  relative  distances  of  the  towns 
between    Deir    and    'Anah  were  wrongly  given.     There 


DEIR  TO   'AXAH.  143- 

were  numerous  wadis  coming  down  from  the  desert,  as 
on  the  previous  day ;  and  the  bluffs  of  the  plateau  were 
more  broken,  forming  hills  and  ranges  of  hills.  The 
stony  ground  of  the  plateau  comes  down  to  the  river  in 
many  places,  and  islands  begin  to  appear  here  and  there. 
The  coloring  of  the  bluffs  at  various  points  was  very  pic- 
turesque. In  the  neighborhood  of  Nahia,  instead  of  a 
creamy  white,  which  is  the  color  at  most  points  along 
the  stream,  the  color  was  bright  yellow.  There  was  no 
Nahia  on  Kiepert's  map,  but  I  think  that  it  is  the  place 
intended  by  his  Hadaoua. 

December  29th,  with  a  view  of  reaching  'Anah  early, 
we  arose  at  1.30,  and  started  on  our  days'  march  at 
3.10.  Our  course  was  still  somewhat  more  northerly 
than  on  the  preceding  day.  At  first  it  led  over  a  low, 
broken  plateau,  with  a  range  of  hills  not  far  away  to  our 
right,  running  northeast  and  southwest.  At  eight 
o'clock  we  found  ourselves  again  in  the  narrow  valley  of 
the  river,  which  was  here  under  cultivation.  The 
plateau  on  our  right  was  worn  and  cut  into  separate, 
rounded  summits,  the  strata  of  which  dipped  toward  the 
Euphrates.  Some  of  these  rocks  had  a  pinkish-brick 
hue,  and  the  various  colors  added  to  the  picturesqueness 
and  strangeness  of  the  scene.  We  passed  some  old  cot- 
ton-fields and  numbers  of  ruined  water-wheels,  which  are 
legion  in  this  part  of  the  river.  At  8. 10  we  passed  a 
mosque  and  the  ruins  of  a  village  called  Imam  Beshed, 
or  Meshed.  The  houses  of  this  village  had  been  built  of 
small  stones  set  in  mud.  In  not  a  few  cases  the  mud 
had  been  washed  away,  and  the  small  stones  continued 
to  retain  their  position.  Portions  of  houses  in  this  state 
showed  not  only  the  lower  floor,  but  stairways  and  a 
second  story,  and  in  some  cases  even  a  third  story.  The 
mosque  itself  was  fairly  well  preserved,  and  was  deco- 
rated in  the  interior  with  frescoes  on  the  ceilings  and 
walls,   while  an  inscription  ran   about   the  frieze.      The 


144  NIPPUR. 

work  dates  from  the  time  of  Caliph  Mamun,  son  of 
Harun-er-Rashid.  This  moscjue  is  much  m.ore  elaborate 
than  anything  now  existing  in  that  region;  and  the 
remains  not  only  of  the  mosque,  but  also  of  roads  and 
bridges,  all  dating  from  the  Arabic  period,  indicate  con- 
ditions of  prosperity  in  the  time  of  the  Abbasside  Cali- 
phate which  have  not  been  reached  since. 

At  8.35,  at  a  sharp  bend  of  the  river,  we  came  upon 
the  island  and  village  of  Azarieh,  where  we  first  saw,  not 
single  palm-trees,  but  palm-groves,  and  where  the  cli- 
matic conditions  of  Babylonia  began  to  take  the  place  of 
those  of  Syria.  As  Deir  is  the  last  town  in  Syria,  so 
'Anah  may  be  said  to  be  the  first  town  in  Babylonia. 
Just  beyond  Azarieh  the  river  enters  a  narrow  gorge, 
and  we  were  obliged  to  turn  back  over  the  hills.  These 
consist  at  this  point  of  naked  lime  rock,  cut  up  into  wild 
and  picturesque  shapes  by  deep  wadis.  At  nine  o'clock 
we  descended  into  the  deep  gorge  called  Wadi  Rawa, 
and  followed  this  down  almost  to  the  river-shore,  coming 
out  opposite  the  extremely  picturesque  town  of  Rawa, 
which  consists  of  a  fringe  of  palm-trees  and  mud  walls, 
extending  for  about  a  mile  along  the  narrow  strip  of  land 
between  the  cliffs  and  the  river  on  the  Mesopotamian 
side.  On  a  bold  promontory  to  the  right  of  the  town 
stands  out  an  immense,  barren-looking  building, — the 
barracks  erected  by  Midhat  Pasha  to  hold  the  Shammar 
Arabs  in  check,  where  stood  in  Ainsworth's  day  a  castle 
and  a  tower.  Around  this  promontory  the  river  almost 
doubles  on  its  own  course.  It  is  narrow  and  rapid,  and 
there  are  rocks  in  the  channel.  Beyond  the  promontory 
was  another  ribbon  of  palm-trees ;  while  on  our  side  of  the 
river,  stretching  for  six  or  seven  miles  in  one  narrow 
strip,  between  high  barren  hills  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
river  on  the  other,  and  covering  half  a  dozen  islands  in 
the  channel  of  the  stream,  were  visible  the  innumerable 
palm-trees  among  which  stands  the  tow^n  of  'Anah.      It 


DEIR  TO  'AN AH.  1 45 

was  by  far  the  most  beautiful  and  picturesque  site  which 
we  had  seen  on  our  journey  along  the  Euphrates. 

It  was  twenty  minutes  past  nine  o'clock  when  we  began 
to  enter  the  town  ;  and  we  rode  for  fifty  minutes  along  its 
single  street,  between  palm-trees  and  mud  walls  on  either 
side  of  us,  before  we  reached  the  palace  of  the  Kaimakam, 
said  to  be  in  the  centre  of  the  place.  The  day  had  been 
cloudy,  and  for  fear  of  rain  we  accepted  the  Kaimakam 's 
offer  of  rooms,  but  they  were  so  small  that  we  had  to 
pitch  two  tents  in  the  courtyard  in  addition.  As  soon 
as  we  were  settled,  I  sent  word  that  I  would  like  to  call 
on  the  Kaimakam,  to  which  he  replied,  that,  as  he  had 
given  me  the  only  rooms  fit  to  receive  guests,  he  would 
call  on  me,  which  he  accordingly  did.  He  informed  me 
that  a  flood  the  spring  before  had  destroyed  the  greater 
part  of  the  palace,  and  that  they  had  not  yet  begun  to 
rebuild.  He  had  only  been  in  'Anah  two  or  three  weeks; 
but  it  was  three  and  a  half  years  since  he  had  left  Scu- 
tari to  take  office  in  the  pro\"inces,  and  he  would  much 
like  to  get  back  to  the  Bosphorus  once  more.  He  was 
an  old  man.  Abbas  Effendi  by  name.  He  said  that 
thirty  years  before,  Omar  Pasha  had  made  the  country 
safe  against  the  Anazeh  and  the  lions.  Before  that  time 
the  people  of  'Anah  had  been  compelled  to  live  entirely 
on  the  islands,  because  the  mainland  was  so  unsafe. 
Twenty  years  before,  IMidhat  Pasha  had  killed  Abd-ul- 
Kerim,  the  famous  Shammar  chief,  and  scattered  the 
Shammar  Arabs  on  the  other  side  of  the  river;  and  now 
this  road,  that  is,  this  country,  was  very  safe.  He  had 
asked,  he  said,  for  a  post-office  at  'Anah,  but  his  petition 
had  not  yet  been  granted.  There  are,  in  fact,  post-offices 
only  at  Deir,  Hit,  and  Ramadieh ;  but  at  no  other  point 
along  the  Euphrates,  from  Aleppo  to  Baghdad,  can  one 
either  send  or  receive  letters  through  the  mail. 

The  chief  industries  of  the  towni  are  the  domestic 
manufacture   of   woollen    and   cotton   goods  ( principally 

VOL.  I— 10 


146  NIPPUR. 

abbayehs  or  Arab  cloaks,  and  the  like)  and  the  cultiva. 
tion  of  dates,  durra,  cotton,  and  fruits.  The  fruits  are 
cucumbers,  apricots,  figs,  pomegranates,  sour  oranges, 
and  sweet  lemons.  Abbas  Effendi  assured  me  that  we 
needed  no  zaptiehs  to  accompany  us  in  our  rambles  about 
the  place,  even  when  we  wished  to  photograph,  as  the 
people  were  much  more  civilized  and  less  turbulent  than 
those  at  Deir.  While  he  was  with  us,  the  Turkish  official 
who  had  been  travelling  in  our  company  arrived,  and 
asked  for  rooms,  to  which  request  Abbas  replied  that  he 
had  given  all  that  he  had  to  us.  I  protested  that  I  did 
not  wish  to  cause  him  or  these  others  such  inconven- 
ience, and  that  we  would  pitch  our  tents  and  restore  to 
him  his  rooms.  But  he  would  not  listen  to  this  proposi- 
tion, replying  that  we,  as  foreigners,  were  the  guests  of 
honor,  and  that  the  others  should  go  outside  and  pitch 
their  tents,  which  they  did. 

The  Kaimakam's  knowledge  of  the  history  of  'Anah 
was  limited,  and  not  at  all  accurate.  As  the  name 
shows,  the  place  must  once  have  been  sacred  to  Anu,  the 
ancient  Babylonian  god  of  heaven,  or  his  female  half, 
Anath.  We  find  in  Palestine  towns  of  the  same  name. 
Anathoth,  a  Levitical  city,  near  Jerusalem,  the  home  of 
the  Prophet  Jeremiah,  was  such  a  place,  Anathoth  being 
merely  the  plural  of  Anath.  Cities  with  this  name  were 
manifestly  sites  sacred  to  Anu  or  Anath,  where  shrines 
of  that  divinity  existed.  There  is,  to  the  best  of  my 
knowledge,  no  mention  of  this  particular  city  in  any 
Babylonian  or  Assyrian  inscriptions  which  have  yet 
been  found.  The  first  mention  of  the  city  wdiich  I 
have  found  is  in  Xenophon,  who  calls  it  Charmande. 
The  next  is  in  the  "  Parthian  stations  "  of  Isidorus 
Charax,  about  the  beginning  of  our  era.  In  the  account 
of  the  ill-fated  expedition  of  the  Emperor  Julian,  in  the 
fourth  century  after  Christ,  Anath  or  Anatho  appears 
as  a  town  of  importance,   situated  both  on  the   islands 


DEIR  TO  'AN AH.  1 47 

of  the  stream,  and  also  on  the  Arabic  shore  of  the 
river,  the  citadel  or  castle  lying  on  one  of  the  islands. 
The  people  were  independent  and  self-reliant,  and  under- 
took to  oppose  the  passage  of  the  Romans.  In  this 
they  were  assisted  by  the  elements,  a  violent  storm 
destroying  many  of  the  Roman  ships.  Julian  finally 
succeeded  in  reducing  the  town  to  submission,  partly  by 
force,  partly  by  diplomacy.  Some  of  the  inhabitants  he 
deported ;  others,  with  a  certain  Dusseus  at  their  head,  he 
admitted  to  an  honorable  alliance.  After  the  dissolution 
of  the  Abbasside  Caliphate  the  place  seems  to  have  en- 
joyed a  semi-independence;  and  various  travellers  de- 
scribe 'Anah  as  governed  by  an  Emir,  and  the  people  as 
proud  and  self-reliant.  These  conditions  continued  even 
after  the  Turkish  conquest  of  the  country;  and  Tavernier 
tells  us  that  two  hundred  years  ago  the  town  was  still  self- 
governing,  and  ruled  by  its  own  Emir.  When  the  old 
independence  was  finally  destroyed  I  cannot  tell;  but  at 
least  it  has  long  since  vanished,  and  'Anah  is  now 
governed  like  any  other  town  on  the  Euphrates. 

The  statement  of  our  good  Kaimakam  about  the  secu- 
rity of  the  country  was,  as  we  learned  afterwards,  very 
much  exaggerated.  Since  the  time  of  Midhat  Pasha  the 
Arabs  have  been  allowed  to  get  the  upper  hand.  The 
old  barracks  at  Rawa  are  deserted,  and  there  is  only  a 
small  force  of  zaptiehs  and  soldiers  at  'Anah.  Benja- 
min of  Tudela  tells  us  that  in  his  day,  in  the  twelfth 
century  after  Christ,  Rawa  as  well  as  'Anah  was  a  forti- 
fied town.  The  abandoned  remains  of  buildings  on 
the  islands,  including  the  remains  of  bridges  which 
once  connected  the  islands  with  the  shore,  as  also 
remains  of  roads  and  bridges  on  the  mainland  in  this 
neighborhood,  already  referred  to,  prove  that  this  region 
once  enjoyed  a  period  of  great  prosperity  and  importance. 
The  natives  refer  the  ruins  on  the  islands  to  the  Persian 
period ;   and   while   such    statements   are   generally   the 


148  NIPPUR. 

merest  idle  and  unscientific  guesswork,  I  fancy  that  they 
are,  in  this  case  at  least,  correct. 

Ainsworth  describes  the  ruins  on  the  islands  sixty 
years  ago  as  follows:  "  The  islands  in  the  centre  of  the 
stream  rise  very  little  above  the  level  of  the  waters,  and 
none  of  them  have  rock  terraces,  but  they  are  embel- 
lished by  a  dense  and  luxuriant  vegetation,  chiefly  of 
palm-trees  and  pomegranates,  out  of  which  peer  the  ruins 
of  former  habitations,  and  here  and  there  the  white- 
washed dome  of  a  sepulchral  chapel. 

"  In  the  largest  of  all,  to  the  southeastwards,  were  the 
ruins  of  a  once  extensive  castle.  This  old  island  castle 
was  connected  by  a  bridge,  now  in  ruins,  to  the  Arabian 
side,  and  by  an  irregular  ridge  of  rocks  and  masonry, 
called  Nizan,  to  the  Mesopotamian.  These,  as  may  be 
imagined,  constitute  at  the  low  season  serious  impedi- 
ments to  navigation.  At  that  time  the  waters  tumble 
over  the  ledge  on  the  east  side,  with  a  fall  of  about  two 
feet,  in  a  broken  foam.  On  the  west  side,  one  of  the 
arches  of  the  bridge  being  broken,  a  steamer  can  be 
steered  through  with  due  care.  A  wall  extending  across 
from  the  upper  part  of  the  island  to  the  western  shore 
also  crosses  the  passage,  but,  being  broken  down  near  the 
island,  it  has  a  narrow  pass  from  thirty  to  forty  feet  wide. 
This  gate  is  surmounted  by  a  parapet  which  advances 
from  the  island  just  above  it,  and  turns  the  water  at  an 
angle  into  the  main  stream.  On  the  hills  beyond  the 
town  were  two  small  Arabian  castles,  called  Abd  Allah 
and  Zahun;  and  another  of  a  similar  character,  called 
Abu-n-diyah,  defended  the  further  extremiity  of  the 
cliffs  on  the  Mesopotamian  side," 

There  has  been  a  considerable  change  in  the  appear- 
ance of  these  ruins  since  that  description  was  written. 
The  bridge  and  the  wall  have  both  vanished  almost  en- 
tirely. The  forts  mentioned  by  Ainsworth  seem  to  have 
vanished  also.     There  are,  in  fact,  few  visible  remains  of 


DEIR  TO   'AX AH. 


149 


the  past  in  'Anah,  in  spite  of  its  great  antiquity.  The 
houses  are  built  of  field-stones  set  in  mud.  When  a 
house  becomes  ruinous,  it  is  deserted ;  the  inhabitants 
building  a  new  house,  and  leaving  the  old  one  to  fall  into 
ruins.  The  consequence  is  that  at  least  half  of  the 
houses  which  one  sees  are  unoccupied  and  in  various 
stages  of  decay.  Each  house  has  about  it  a  garden  of 
palms,  pomegranates,  figs,  and  the  like,  and  underneath 
the  palm-trees  they  cultivate  wheat  or  some  other  grain. 
The  gardens  are  surrounded  by  walls  of  mud  and  field- 
stones.  Water-wheels  for  irrigation  are  very  numerous; 
and  while  many  of  these  are  ancient  ruins,  there  are 
sufficient  in  use  at  the  present  time  to  water  every  garden. 
The  water  is  carried  from  the  wheels  by  raised  aqueducts; 
and  these,  crossing  the  single  street  at  an  elevation  of  three 
or  four  or  five  feet,  and  at  very  frequent  intervals,  render 
that  a  somewhat  difficult  thoroughfare  for  loaded  animals. 
It  is  altogether  too  narrow  for  any  wagons;  and  indeed 
there  are  no  wagons,  or  any  sort  of  vehicles,  in  that  country. 
'Anah  is  the  most  charming  town  on  the  whole  river. 
It  is  indescribably  picturesque,  with  its  rude  fortress-like 
houses  embowered  in  gardens  of  palms  and  rosy  pome- 
granates, surrounded  by  high  walls,  and  watered  by  huge 
water-wheels  with  arched  aqueducts,  their  dripping  sides 
covered  with  moss  and  ferns  and  flowers.  In  front  of  it 
the  cool,  brown  river  surges  and  eddies  over  rocks  and 
among  palm  islands  covered  with  ruins  of  Persian  forts 
and  bridges,  Arab  mosques  and  water-wheels,  and  aque- 
ducts of  all  nations  and  ages.  Behind,  close  at  hand,  rise 
abruptly  the  steep,  barren,  unclothed  hills  of  a  yellow- 
whitish  marl  full  of  fossils ;  while  across  the  river,  as  far  as 
the  eye  can  reach,  there  is  a  level,  monotonous  waste  of 
grayish-brown  desert.  Below  the  town  the  river  is  full  of 
palm  islands;  above,  the  vista  of  the  stream  is  closed 
by  a  beetling  cliff  crowned  with  massive  masonry,  with  a 
soft  green  fringe  of  palm-trees  far  beneath. 


I50  NIPPUR. 

The  people  of  'Anah  are  singularly  fine-looking,  quite 
unlike  the  wretched  population  which  we  saw  at  Deir. 
From  their  features.  I  should  say  that  they  were  pure- 
blooded  Semites  of  the  Arab  stock,  not  mixed  with  other 
elements.  They  are  more  polite,  suaver,  and  more 
courtly,  than  the  denizens  of  the  other  river  towns.  The 
women  are  very  shy,  which,  from  the  Arabic  standpoint, 
is  an  evidence,  I  presume,  of  culture,  refinement,  and 
blood.  On  sight  of  us  in  the  street,  unveiled  beauties 
would  dodge  into  passage-ways  or  turn  their  backs. 
Those  of  whose  features  I  caught  a  glimpse  were  fair  to 
look  upon,  except  for  the  unfortunate  habit  of  tattooing 
in  blue  the  under  lip,  the  nose,  forehead,  cheeks,  and 
chin.  Of  course,  they  wear  nose-rings.  Ainsworth  says 
that  their  noses  were  "  generally  adorned  with  a  large 
turquoise."  He  found  a  considerable  Christian  and 
Jewish  population  occupying  separate  quarters  of  the 
town.  There  is  still  a  considerable  population  of  Jews 
here,  but  unfortunately  I  did  not  learn  this  until  later, 
and  therefore  did  not  visit  them. 

Sunday  was  a  rainy  day,  so  that  it  was  impossible  to 
secure  a  good  photograph  of  'Anah.  Most  of  us  spent 
the  day  in  writing  letters,  which  could  not  be  mailed  for 
a  week,  and  resting.  Since  leaving  Aleppo  we  had  been 
one  hundred  and  twenty  hours  in  the  saddle,  or,  to  use 
Xenophon's  language,  we  had  travelled  fifteen  stages, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-four  parasangs;  and  the  oppor- 
tunity of  spending  the  day  lying  down,  or  sitting  in  some 
other  position  than  astraddle,  was  not  to  be  despised.  As 
at  Meskene  and  Deir,  we  had  a  sheep  killed,  and  treated 
our  muleteers  to  fresh  meat. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  Kaimakam  of  'Anah  is  very 
extensive,  extending  in  a  narrow  strip  along  the  river 
about  a  six-days'  journey,  three  on  either  side  of  'Anah; 
but  there  is  nothing  back  of  the  river.  The  Kaimakam 
has  twenty  foot-soldiers  and  fifty-two  zaptiehs  at  his  dis- 


DEIR  TO  \4XAH.  151 

posal,  the  former  of  whom,  during  the  time  that  we  were 
there,  loafed  about  by  day,  and  sang  songs  and  shouted  all 
night  long.  The  Kaimakam  was  probably  used  to  this, 
and  did  not  mind  it ;  but,  in  spite  of  their  fatigue,  it 
interfered  with  the  sleep  of  some  of  our  party.  There 
are  said  to  be  three  or  four  hundred  occupied  houses  in 
'Anah,  which  would  mean  a  population  of  about  two 
thousand  souls.  We  were  able  to  secure  barley  for  our 
horses  at  this  point,  and  laid  in  a  supply  for  several  days, 
inasmuch  as  at  the  smaller  places  nothing  could  be 
obtained.  Our  horses  had  had  a  rather  hard  time  of  it, 
and  some  of  them  had  developed  sores;  but  they  were 
happy  in  comparison  with  the  pack-animals.  The  backs 
of  some  of  these  poor  creatures  were  a  dreadful  sight  to 
behold,  and  it  was  sickening  to  see  the  way  in  which  they 
were  dressed.  At  Abu-Kemal  they  burned  a  hole  in  the 
back  of  one  donkey  with  a  red-hot  iron  in  order  to  drain 
a  wound.  From  our  point  of  view,  the  Turks  and  Arabs, 
but  more  especially  the  latter,  are  exceedingly  cruel  in 
their  treatment  of  animals.  They  will  not  kill  a  creature 
to  put  it  out  of  pain,  leaving  it  to  die  a  lingering  death 
of  itself.  On  their  side,  they  consider  our  idea  of  killing 
a  creature  to  prevent  it  from  suffering  as  barbarous  and 
inhuman.  At  'Anah  our  muleteers  took  a  worn-out 
donkey  to  the  water's  edge,  contriving  that  he  should 
fall  in  and  be  swept  away  and  drowned,  but  they  would 
not  themselves  kill  him. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

A   CITY    OF    PITCH. 

Fortress  of  Thilutha — A  Swamp — An  Island  Town — Naouras — Modern 
Arab  Life — Persian  Ruins — Arab  Industries — People  of  the  Town — A 
Hot  Cave — Troglodytes — More  Island  Towns — Bitter  Streams — Bitu- 
men Springs — The  Town  of  Hit — A  Shipyard — Antiquity  of  Hit — 
Herodotus— The  Mouth  of  Hell— History  of  Hit. 

WE  left  'Anah  at  half-past  six  o'clock  on  the  morn- 
ing of  Monday,  December  31st.  As  we  went 
along,  I  observed  on  the  houses  a  decoration  which  I  had 
also  seen  in  Deir;  namely,  colored  plates  set  in  the  outer 
walls  of  the  houses.  Many  of  the  houses  were  deserted, 
and  our  zaptieh  said  that  the  people  had  grown  poor  and 
many  had  left ;  but  why  they  were  poor,  he  did  not  know. 
He  himself  was  a  Kurd,  and  had  been  stationed  at  'Anah 
for  ten  years.  As  we  were  behind  the  caravan  and  some  of 
the  loads  fell  off  shortly  after  starting,  and  as  it  was 
impossible,  owing  to  the  narrowness  of  the  street,  to  pass 
the  loaded  animals  in  front  of  us,  it  took  us  seventy  min- 
utes to  reach  the  southern  limits  of  the  town.  Five 
minutes  beyond  'Anah,  and  connected  with  it  by  gar- 
dens, is  the  village  of  Jemeyle,  with  a  different  town 
government,  but  really  constituting  a  part  of  'Anah.  It 
took  fifteen  minutes  more  to  pass  this. 

After  passing  the  town,  the  hills  on  both  sides  of  the 
river  become  lower.  The  valley  between  the  river  and 
the  hills,  on  the  Arabian  side,  is  not  more  than  two  hun- 
dred yards  wide,   and  on  the   Mesopotamian    side    even 

152 


A    CITY  OF  PITCH.  1 53 

narrower.  There  are  a  number  of  small  wadis  cutting 
their  way  through  the  hills,  the  rock  of  which  everywhere 
is  a  soft  limestone  carbonate,  full  of  fossils.  About  half 
an  hour  below  'Anah,  around  a  bend  of  the  river,  is  the 
small  rocky  island  of  Telbeis,  the  ancient  Thilutha.  This 
was  a  strong  fortress  in  the  days  of  the  Emperor  Julian, 
so  strong  that  he  could  not  take  it.  Now  it  is  a  tiny 
islet,  almost,  if  not  quite,  uninhabited,  but  the  ruins  of 
old  fortifications  are  still  visible. 

Our  destination  for  the  night  was  the  barracks  of 
Fehemi.  Just  in  front  of  these  barracks  lies  the  Wadi 
Fehemi,  which  forms  at  its  junction  with  the  Euphrates 
a  swamp  difficult  to  cross.  Harper  was  riding  in  front, 
when  his  horse,  Burnaburiash,  began  to  sink,  and  con- 
tinued sinking  until  he  found  himself  standing  astride  of 
the  animal,  with  his  two  feet  in  the  mud  on  either  side  of 
him,  whereupon  he  picked  off  his  saddle-bags  and  rifle, 
and  returned  to  rejoin  me  on  the  edge  of  the  swamp. 
The  horse,  relieved  of  his  rider's  weight,  succeeded  in 
some  manner  in  extricating  himself.  A  caravan  of  don- 
keys was  crossing  at  the  same  time,  and  several  of 
them  almost  disappeared  in  the  mud,  so  that  the  Arabs 
who  were  driving  them  had  to  pull  them  out  by  the  tails 
and  ears.  It  took  us  almost  an  hour  to  find  a  safe  way 
across  this  swamp  to  the  barracks  beyond. 

The  first  day  of  the  new  year,  18S9,  we  reached  Ha- 
ditha,  or  New  Town,  situated  partly  on  an  island  in  the 
river,  and  partly  on  the  mainland  on  both  sides.  Here 
we  were  quartered  in  a  farmhouse  used  as  barracks, 
because  the  former  barracks  w^ere  destroyed  by  the  flood 
of  1888.  There  were  five  zaptiehs  and  one  foot-soldier 
at  this  post.  The  farmhouse  was  a  good  specimen  of  the 
sort  of  farmhouses  which  occur  isolated  or  in  groups  on  the 
Euphrates  from  Haditha  to  Hit.  A  high  wall  of  small 
stones  set  in  much  mud  surrounds  the  court,  on  three  sides 
of  which  are  buildincfs  of  the  same  material.     These  farm- 


154  NIPPUR. 

houses  look  like  forts,  especially  as  they  often  have  a 
small  round  watch-tower  attached  for  watching  the 
water-wheels.  Nor  does  their  fort-like  appearance  belie 
their  character;  for  they  were  intended  to  afford  protec- 
tion against  the  bedouin,  as  well  as  shelter.  Here,  for  the 
first  time,  I  observed  closely  one  of  the  native  ovens  for 
baking  bread.  It  was  built  of  small  stones  and  mud, 
with  one  opening  at  the  top,  and  another  at  the  side.  A 
fire  is  kindled  in  this  oven  ;  and  when  the  fire  has  reduced 
itself  to  ashes,  wet  meal,  kneaded  in  the  form  of  cakes, 
is  plastered  on  the  inside  walls,  where  it  remains  until  it 
dries,  and  the  cakes  fall  into  the  ashes  and  are  regarded 
as  cooked. 

Ali  Effendi  of  Baghdad,  IMudir  of  Haditha,  came  to 
call  on  us,  dressed  in  coat  and  trousers.  He  told  me  that 
there  were  three  hundred  houses  in  Haditha,  and  that 
there  were  twice  as  many  before  the  flood  of  last  spring. 
No  steamer  had  been  up  the  river  for  nine  years,  he  said. 
Midhat  Pasha  had  caused  the  naoura  dams,  which  are 
built  out  into  the  stream  so  as  to  direct  a  current  upon 
the  water-wheels,  to  be  broken,  and  a  steamboat  to  run  up 
to  ]\Ieskene;  but  the  people  did  not  like  it,  because  they 
could  not  obtain  a  strong  enough  current  for  their  naou- 
ras.  These  are  built  in  this  manner:  three  or  four  piers, 
or  sometimes  long  bridges  of  stone  resting  upon  arches, 
are  run  out  into  the  river.  At  the  end  of  the  piers  or 
bridges  are  built  from  one  to  five  wheels.  These  wheels, 
which  have  a  diameter  of  fifteen  to  twenty  feet,  are  made 
of  crooked  mulberr}'  or  tamarisk  boughs,  the  only  wood 
available.  Generally  they  have  paddles  of  palm-leaves, 
and  collect  the  water  in  rude  clay  jars  tied  to  the  wheel. 
I  have  observed  pieces  of  old  bottles  and  all  sorts  of 
broken  potter}^  used  where  jars  failed.  The  wheel  is 
hung  at  an  angle,  so  that  the  upper  part  overhangs  a 
small  trough,  into  which,  with  much  waste,  the  jars  are 
emptied  as    the  wheel    revolves;  and,   by    the  way,   the 


A    CITY  OF  PITCH.  1 55 

same  clay  jars,  with  an  end  knocked  out,  often  serve  for 
water-spouts  on  houses.  The  ]\Iudir  caused  a  wheel  near 
our  camp  to  be  set  in  motion  for  my  benefit. 

Later  we  crossed  to  the  island,  and  the  ]\Iudir  escorted 
us  over  the  town.  The  flood  of  the  spring  before  had 
covered  almost  the  entire  island,  and  a  large  portion  of 
the  town  was  still  in  ruins  in  consequence.  No  lives  had 
been  lost,  however,  as  the  people  had  escaped  in  boats 
to  the  mainland.  At  the  upper  end  of  the  island  we 
were  shown  a  ruin,  which  we  were  told  was  an  old  palace 
of  the  Persian  kings,  built  by  Yizdeshur.  It  was  origin- 
ally a  finer  building  than  any  now  to  be  seen  in  that 
country.  In  the  time  of  Julian,  Haditha,  then  called 
Baia-iMalcha,  was,  in  fact,  a  residence  of  the  Persian 
kings.  The  Yizdeshur  of  the  Arabs  is  evidently  a  cor- 
ruption of  Ardeshir,  or  Artaxerxes,  the  name  of  the 
founder  of  the  Sassanian  Empire.  The  foundations  of 
the  buildings  at  this  end  of  the  island,  and  the  retaining 
wall  are  quite  massive,  and  may  well  have  belonged  to 
the  Persian  period;  but,  from  some  plaster  mouldings 
which  I  saw,  I  should  suppose  that  the  upper  portion  of 
the  present  ruins  is  Arabic.  Moreover,  near  these  ruins 
are  the  ruins  of  an  old  mosque.  Haditha  is  mentioned 
by  that  name  by  the  Arabic  historians,  and  was  a  place 
of  some  importance  during  the  Abbasside  Caliphate. 

After  we  had  inspected  the  ruins,  the  Mudir  took  us 
to  see  the  native  method  of  weaving,  where  the  weaver 
sits  in  a  hole  in  the  ground.  We  visited  also  the  mill 
where  durra  and  barley  were  ground,  with  a  fine  mixture 
of  straw  and  dirt  of  all  kinds,  to  form  the  flour  out  of 
which  the  coarse  bread  of  the  country  is  made.  A  wheel, 
Avith  paddles  of  palm-leaves,  revolves  in  the  water. 
Attached  to  the  shaft  of  this  is  a  second  wheel,  with  cogs 
on  the  inner  rim.  This  turns  another  small  wheel  with 
cogs,  the  axis  of  which  is  perpendicular  to  the  axis  of  the 
other  two.    Attached  to  the  upper  end  of  the  a.xis  of  this 


156  NIPPUR. 

latter  wheel  is  the  upper  millstone,  the  lower  millstone 
being  stationary.  Above  the  upper  millstone  hangs  a 
bag  of  matting;  and  a  stick  attached  to  the  bag  by  a 
string,  and  laid  on  the  millstone,  shakes  the  bag,  causing 
the  grain  to  fall  out  into  a  hole  in  the  stone,  whence  it 
finds  its  way  between  the  upper  and  the  nether  mill- 
stones. The  millstones  are  both  very  soft,  and  the  flour 
falls  from  the  stone  directly  on  the  ground,  so  that  much 
dirt  and  earth  are  mixed  with  it. 

The  Mudir  then  took  us  to  his  own  house,  where,  in 
a  rude  room  with  mud  walls  and  dirt  floor,  we  sat  on 
rugs  before  a  smoking  fire  and  drank  coffee.  Only  two 
cups  were  provided  for  the  whole  company,  and  these 
were  passed  two  or  three  times  around.  The  coffee  was 
made  in  three  pots,  being  first  cooked  in  the  largest,  then 
drained  into  the  second,  and  then  into  the  third.  The 
]\Iudir  also  took  us  into  some  of  the  houses  of  the  town 
to  show  us  the  rude  wheels  on  which  the  women  spin 
cotton  thread.  Everywhere  we  saw  both  men  and 
women  making  woollen  thread  on  bobbins,  which  they 
carry  about  with  them  wherever  they  go,  spinning  the 
thread  in  the  intervals  of  their  conversation.  The  island 
is  less  than  half  a  mile  long,  and  about  six  hundred  feet 
in  width.  The  people  have  six  boats  in  all,  by  means  of 
which  communication  is  kept  up  between  the  main  por- 
tion of  the  town  on  the  island  and  the  smaller  portion  on 
the  mainland.  These  boats  are  small,  flat-bottomed 
scows.  The  oars  are  crooked  sticks,  with  small  pieces  of 
wood  nailed  to  the  end  for  blades.  The  women  of  Ha- 
ditha  are  neither  so  bashful  nor  so  well  favored  as  those 
of  'Anah,  and  in  general  the  facial  type  at  Haditha  is  not 
pleasing.  The  nose  is  inclined  to  be  broad  at  the  end, 
and  even  to  turn  up  slightly.  The  faces  are  broadish, 
and  I  saw  a  very  few  bluish  eyes.  I  should  judge  that 
there  is  some  mixture  of  population  here  and  at  most  of 
the  river  towns.  The  people  are  pious,  and  there  are 
numbers  of  ziarets  on  the  mainland. 


A    CITY  OF  FITCH.  1 57 

The  bluffs  in  this  neighborhood  are  of  gypsum  and 
marl,  and  are  full  of  caves,  many  of  which  are  used  as 
houses  by  the  poorer  parts  of  the  population.  The  culti- 
vable area  between  the  river  and  the  bluffs  is  from  two  to 
six  hundred  feet  in  breadth,  and  is  all  utilized.  Beyond 
Haditha,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  are  villages,  called 
Beni  Dahir  and  Birwana  respectively,  which  are  really  a 
continuation  of  Haditha  itself.  There  are  also  several 
smaller  islands  in  the  stream  below  Haditha  which  are 
inhabited. 

The  next  morning,  an  hour  after  starting,  we  reached 
a  point  where  the  bluffs  came  down  to  the  river  with  no 
intervening  plain,  so  that  we  were  compelled  to  turn  back 
over  the  plateau.  We  soon  found  ourselves  in  a  ravine 
called  Wadi  Hajlan,  near  the  mouth  of  which  are  hot 
sulphurous  springs  of  considerable  volume.  Beyond  this 
wadi  lie  several  other  gorges  and  gullies,  which  make  the 
road  extremely  difficult.  These  passed,  our  course  lay 
over  a  high  plateau  some  distance  back  of  the  river,  so 
that  we  did  not  see  the  island  city  of  'Alus,  given  as  el- 
Ouzz  on  Kiepert's  map.  About  nine  o'clock  we  observed 
smoke  rising  from  the  ground  close  to  our  left.  Suppos- 
ing that  it  came  from  an  Arab  camp,  we  rode  up,  and 
found  a  depression  of  two  hundred  feet  in  diameter,  look- 
ing as  though  the  surface  rock  were  falling  at  that  point. 
From  a  small  hole  in  this  depression  steam  issued  inter- 
mittently, carrying  with  it  a  strong  odor  of  bitumen. 
Close  to  this  small  hole  was  a  larger  hole,  down  which  we 
scrambled  into  a  cave.  This  we  explored  for  three  quar- 
ters of  an  hour,  without,  however,  exploring  the  entire 
cave.  The  rock  was  gypsum.  In  one  room  the  heat  was 
intense,  elsewhere  there  was  an  ordinary  cave  temperature. 

At  half-past  twelve  we  were  opposite  the  island  town 
of  Jibba,  a  place  of  the  same  general  character  as  'Alus 
and  Haditha.  From  a  point  near  the  road  we  could  see 
the  palm-trees  on  the  island.     An  hour  later  we  reached 


158  NIPPUR. 

the  narrow  valley  of  the  river,  almost  opposite  the  village 
of  Joaniya.  The  bluffs  along  the  river  from  Haditha  to 
this  point,  and  beyond,  were  full  of  caves,  many  of  which 
were  inhabited.  Seeing  no  houses,  one  is  apt  to  suppose 
that  there  are  no  inhabitants;  but  every  little  ravine 
which  seams  the  bluffs  contains  one  or  more  caves,  which 
are  the  homes  of  the  fellaheen  of  the  district.  The  place 
at  which  we  stopped  for  the  night  was  called  Baghdadieh, 
but  there  was  no  village  of  any  sort,  the  entire  popula- 
tion of  the  neighborhood  dwelling  in  caves.  We  pitched 
our  tents  in  a  large  valley  setting  back  into  the  plateau, 
with  almost  precipitous  sides,  two  hundred  feet  or  more 
in  height.  The  night  was  a  very  cold  one,  with  a  sharp 
frost. 

The  river  from  'i\nah  to  Hit  is  full  of  islands,  the  sites 
of  ancient  cities;  and  the  rocky  shores  are  full  of  caves, 
the  dwellings  of  modern  troglodytes.  Haditha,  'Alus, 
and  Jibba  are  all  strikingly  similar.  Each  is  a  pictur- 
esque island,  covered  with  graceful  palms  which  reflect 
beauty  and  romance  on  the  miserable  mud  huts  of  the 
present  inhabitants.  Each  possesses  a  few  insignificant 
remains  of  ancient  fortifications,  which  the  natives  invari- 
ably refer  to  Yizdeshur  (Ardeshir).  In  the  great  flood  of 
the  summer  of  1888  these  islands  were  all  more  or  less 
submerged.  At  Haditha,  as  stated  above,  the  people 
escaped  to  the  hills  of  the  mainland  \vithout  loss  of  life, 
but  their  houses  were  ruined.  At  Jibba  much  injury  was 
done,  and  ancient  ruins,  including  an  inscription,  so  the 
natives  told  me,  were  carried  away.  Some  of  these 
islands,  and  especially  Telbeis,  have  been  reduced  in  size, 
in  the  course  of  centuries,  by  the  action  of  the  water;  and 
it  is  probably  owing  to  such  inundations  as  that  of  1888 
that  the  ancient  remains  are  so  insignificant  and  unsatis- 
factory, for  all  of  these  island  towns  seem  to  have  been 
at  some  time  places  of  importance.  Haditha,  as  already 
stated,  was  a  royal  residence  of  the  Persian  kings  in  the 


A    CITY  OF  PITCH.  I  59 

time  of  the  Emperor  Julian.  'Alus  is  the  Uzanesopolis 
of  Ammianus,  the  Auzara  of  Ptolemy.  It  was  named 
after  the  old  Arabian  Ishtar  goddess,  Alus  or  Alusa.  As 
'Anah,  or  Anatho,  was  a  city  dedicated  to  the  Baby- 
lonian goddess  Anath,  so  'Alus  was  dedicated  to  the  old 
Arabian  goddess  Alusa.  What  the  ancient  name  of  Jibba 
was,  I  cannot  determine. 

The  next  morning  we  started  at  ten  minutes  past 
three,  in  order  to  reach  the  interesting  and  important 
town  of  Hit  as  early  in  the  day  as  possible.  We  climbed 
the  bluffs  by  a  very  steep  mule-path,  and  then  travelled 
for  four  hours  across  the  plateau,  finally  descending  b\'  a 
gentle  slope  to  the  river-bed.  At  half-past  seven  we 
passed  a  water-course,  the  water  of  which  our  animals 
refused  to  drink,  although  they  were  very  thirsty.  On 
tasting  it,  we  found  it  to  be  bitter,  with  the  flavor  of 
bitumen.  Ten  minutes  later  we  crossed  another  stream, 
called  Wadi  Sihali,  with  water  of  the  same  character. 
Here  there  is  quite  a  plain,  where  stood  formerly  the  vil- 
lage of  Sihalieh,  which  was  destroyed  by  the  floods  of 
1888.  We  were  told  that  the  people  migrated  to  Kou- 
beitha.  In  the  river  were  two  small  islands,  called  Fle- 
wieh,  containing  a  hamlet.  Three  quarters  of  an  hour 
later,  after  crossing  some  low,  sandy  hills,  we  came  to 
Wadi  Merrej,  another  bitter  stream,  said  to  rise  near 
Koubeitha,  a  town  some  three  or  four  hours  inland  from 
Hit.  This  town,  we  were  told,  contains  some  three  to 
four  hundred  houses,  and  is  occupied  by  merchants,  who 
buy  wool  from  the  Arabs,  and  sell  it  at  Aleppo.  A 
quarter  of  an  hour  later  Hit  was  sighted,  due  ahead.  It 
is  on  a  hill,  or  rather  a  line  of  hills  running  along  the 
Euphrates,  perhaps  partly  natural,  but  certainly,  in  part 
at  least,  artificial,  from  thirty  to  a  hundred  feet  in  height. 
Behind  it  and  around  it  is  quite  a  large  plain,  partly 
sandy,  partly  rocky,  and  partly  muddy.  Down  this 
plain  flow  several  streams  of  bitter  water  from    various 


l6o  NIPPUR. 

bitumen  springs.  Directly  behind  the  town  are  two 
springs  within  thirty  feet  of  one  another,  from  one  of 
which  flows  hot  water,  black  with  bitumen,  while  the 
other  discharges  intermittently  bitumen,  or,  after  a  rain- 
storm, bitumen  and  cold  water.  This  latter  is  the  source 
of  the  bitumen  of  commerce  of  a  great  part  of  Babylonia. 
It  belongs  to  the  Go\'ernment,  and  is  rented  to  any  one 
who  wishes  it,  at  the  rate  of  one  mejidieh  a  day.  Where 
rocks  crop  out  in  the  plain  about  Hit,  they  are  full  of 
seams  of  bitumen,  and  one  observes  the  same  seams  on 
the  face  of  the  bluffs  on  the  edge  of  the  plateau.  The 
rock  in  which  these  veins  occur  is  gypsum.  The  water 
in  all  the  streams  behind  the  town,  and  especially  in  the 
stream  from  the  hot  spring,  is  so  full  of  bitumen,  that, 
while  the  water  itself  looks  clear,  anything  that  is  placed 
in  it  becomes  quickly  clogged,  and  here  and  there,  where 
obstacles  have  obstructed  the  flow  of  the  water,  the 
streams  are  bridged  over  with  bitumen. 

Hit  has  been  inhabited  since  the  natives  of  the  Baby- 
lonian plain  learned  to  use  pitch  or  bitumen  as  mortar, 
and  from  that  time  to  this  it  has  been  the  principal  source 
of  supply  of  that  product.  As  already  stated,  the  chief 
bitumen  springs  lie  close  behind  the  modern  town.  Be- 
yond and  around  these  stretches  a  dismal  black  plain, 
fetid  with  the  smell  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  and  out 
of  this  plain  a  black  valley  leads  to  Koubeitha.  Bitter 
streams  trickle  downward  to  the  Euphrates.  The  rock 
which  crops  out  here  and  there  beneath  your  feet,  and 
the  cliffs  that  border  the  plain,  are  seamed  with  pitchy 
deposits.  Above  the  town  hangs  a  cloud  of  smoke  from 
the  burning  bitumen  in  the  furnaces  of  the  shipwrights 
and  the  ovens  of  the  housewives.  Strings  of  women  pass 
by  on  their  way  to  and  from  the  river,  and  the  vessels 
balanced  on  their  heads  are  made  of  wicker-work  or  por- 
ous earthenware  smeared  over  with  bitumen.  In  their 
belts  the  men  carry  short  clubs  with  round  balls  of  bitu- 


A    CITY  OF  FITCH.  l6l 

men  for  heads.  You  enter  the  town  and  meet  a  man  in 
the  narrow  streets  hastening  homeward  with  a  vessel  full 
of  hot  bitumen  to  make  or  mend  some  household  utensils. 
The  roofs  of  the  houses  above  your  head  are  smeared 
with  bitumen ;  but  on  the  streets  beneath  your  feet,  the 
place  for  which  we  consider  it  especially  adapted,  it  is 
rarely  used.  They  are  mud  and  vile  ordure.  The  pri- 
vate conveniences,  such  as  there  are,  are  on  the  roofs  of 
the  houses,  projecting  over  the  streets,  and  often  the 
streets  themselves  are  used;  but  the  all  pervading  smell 
of  bitumen  protects  the  nose,  and  the  health  also,  so 
that  in  the  recent  cholera  epidemic,  Hit,  despite  its 
filth,  escaped  infection. 

The  houses  of  Hit  are  built  of  field-stones  plastered 
with  mud,  which,  when  they  go  to  ruin  from  the  washing 
of  the  rain-storms,  collapse  in  heaps  of  stones.  In  the 
course  of  some  thousands  of  years  during  which  the  place 
has  been  inhabited,  these  piles  of  stones,  with  other  de- 
bris, have  grown  into  a  line  of  hills  along  the  river-bank 
behind  the  fringe  of  palms.  On  the  highest  of  these, 
almost  precipitous  toward  the  plain,  sloping  less  steeply 
toward  the  river,  stands  the  little  modern  town.  In  spite 
of  the  rudeness  of  its  construction  and  its  filth  and  pov- 
erty, this  is  very  picturesque.  A  striking  feature  of  the 
place  is  a  lofty  and  well-proportioned  minaret,  which 
leans  quite  perceptibly.  On  the  northern  and  southern 
sides  of  the  town  along  the  river  are  luxuriant  palm  plan- 
tations; on  the  east  is  the  river;  and  on  the  west  extends 
the  flat,  barren  plain  described  above,  which,  with  its 
desolation,  its  black-seamed,  burned-looking  rocks,  and 
the  overhanging  smoke  from  the  furnaces  of  the  ship- 
yards, gives  a  general  impression  of  a  used-up  section  of 
the  traditional  hell. 

The  shipyard  is  south  of  the  town,  on  the  shore  of  the 
river.  Here  from  the  most  remote  antiquity  they  have 
manufactured  clumsy  boats  of  crooked  tamarisk  and  mul- 

VOL.    I. — II 


1 62  NIPPUR. 

berry  branches  covered  with  mats  and  wattled  twigs,  the 
whole  thickly  besmeared  with  bitumen,  like  Noah's  Ark. 
One  meets  with  these  bitumen  boats  of  Hit  all  over 
Babylonia,  and  boats  of  the  same  description  have  been 
manufactured  there  forever.  We  had  a  bitumen  furnace 
fired  for  our  benefit.  An  arched  passage  is  built  of  bricks, 
with  a  door  at  one  end,  and  an  opening  for  the  chimney 
at  the  other  end.  On  top  of  this  are  two  tanks,  in  which 
is  placed  bitumen  from  the  spring  behind  the  town.  A 
little  furze  and  thistle,  the  wood  of  the  region,  are  used 
as  kindling  beneath  the  tanks,  and  on  the  top  of  this 
some  bitumen  is  thrown  for  fuel.  As  the  bitumen  in  the 
tanks  becomes  soft,  it  is  constantly  stirred  with  a  plough- 
shaped  stick  by  two  men,  one  on  either  side. 

There  is  a  ferry  at  Hit,  which  I  had  occasion  to  cross 
the  following  year.  The  Jezireh,  or  Mesopotamia,  at  this 
point  is  perfectly  flat.  A  little  lower  down  on  that  side 
of  the  stream  there  are  naphtha  wells,  and  still  farther 
down  occur  salt  lakes.  At  Hit  for  the  first  time  we  met, 
beside  the  lighter-colored  dates,  the  sweeter  black  ones 
so  familiar  below  Baghdad.  Here  also  we  found  pome- 
granates in  abundance,  and  sweet  lemons, — an  insipid, 
watery  fruit. 

I  have  already  said  that  Hit  is  a  very  ancient  city.  On 
the  uninhabited  portions  of  the  ancient  mounds  on  which 
the  modern  city  stands,  the  inhabitants  occasionally  dig 
holes  to  obtain  stones  for  building  purposes.  At  the 
surface  they  find  colored  tiles  and  bits  of  Arabic  work  of 
various  sorts,  then  Kufic  and  Byzantine  coins,  then  Par- 
thian money.  All  these  I  have  seen  myself  in  a  depth 
of  five  to  eight  feet.  Below  this,  so  they  told  me,  they 
found  "  idols,"  which  I  take  to  mean  the  small  clay 
figures  so  common  in  old  Babylonian  sites.  Herodotus 
calls  the  town  Is,  and  says,  speaking  of  the  building  of 
Nebuchadrezzar's  great  quays  at  Babylon  (Book  i.  Chap. 
179):    *'  The  bitumen  used  in  the  work  was  brought   to 


A    CITY  OF  FITCH.  1 63 

Babylon  from  Is,  a  small  stream  which  flows  into  the 
Euphrates  at  the  point  where  the  city  of  the  same  name 
stands,  eight  days'  journey  from  Babylon.  Lumps  of 
bitumen  are  found  in  great  abundance  in  this  river." 

In  a  note  to  this  passage,  Rawlinson  says:  "  This  place 
seems  to  be  mentioned  in  the  tribute  paid  to  Thothmes 
in.  at  Karnak,  from  Nineveh,  Shinar,  Mesopotamia, 
Babel,  etc.,  under  the  name  of  1st,  the  chief  of  which 
brought  2040  minae  of  bitumen,  which  is  called  sift, 
answering  to  zifte,  its  modern  name  in  those  parts,  Rich 
says.  In  Egyptian  Arabic,  zifte  (like  the  Hebrew  zift, 
Exod.  iii,,  2)  means  pitch,  bitumen  (sift),  and  incense 
also. 

Is  is  undoubtedly  the  modern  Hit,  where  the  bitumen 
is  still  abundant.  The  following  quaint  description  is 
given  by  an  old  traveller:  '  Having  spent  three  days  and 
better,  from  the  ruins  of  old  Babylon  we  came  unto  a 
town  called  Ait,  inhabited  only  by  Arabians,  but  very 
ruinous.  Near  unto  which  town  is  a  valley  of  pitch, 
very  marvellous  to  behold,  and  a  thing  almost  incredible, 
wherein  are  many  springs  throwing  out  abundantly  a 
kind  of  black  substance,  like  unto  tar  and  pitch,  which 
serveth  all  the  countries  thereabouts  to  make  staunch  their 
barks  and  boats,  every  one  of  which  springs  makcth  a 
noise  like  a  smith's  forge  in  puffing  and  blowing  out  the 
matter,  which  never  ceases  night  or  clay,  and  the  noise 
is  heard  a  mile  off,  swallowing  up  all  weighty  things  that 
come  upon  it.     The  Moors  call  it  "  the  mouth  of  hell."  ' 

"  The  name  of  this  place  was  originally  Ihi,  or,  with  a 
distinctive  epithet  attached,  Ihidakira,  meaning  "  the 
bitumen  spring."  In  the  Is  of  Herodotus  we  have  Ihi 
with  a  Greek  nominatival  ending.  The  same  place  is 
probably  indicated  in  Ezra  viii.,  15,  21,  31,  w^here  we 
have  Ahava.  Isidore  of  Charax  writes  the  name  as 
asiTtoXig  in  his  Parthian  stations  (p.  5).  Ptolemy  has 
Idinapa  (v.  2o),  and  the  Talmud    Ihidakira,  as  the  most 


164  NIPPUR. 

northerly  town  of  Babylonia.  Zosimus  also  writes 
Jaxipa  (iii.,  p.  165;  and  Ammianus,  Diacira  (xxvi., 
2).  Hit  is  probably  the  same  name  with  a  feminine 
ending." 

Ammianus  relates  that  Julian,  in  his  expedition 
against  the  Persians,  having  crossed  to  this  side  of  the 
river,  found  that  the  men  of  Diacira  had  fled,  where- 
upon he  massacred  the  women  and  children  and  sacked 
the  town. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

HIT   TO    BAGHDAD. 

Lost — Nebuchadrezzar's  Canal  —  Ramadieh  —  Official  Annoyance  —  Char- 
mande — Lowlands— Nahr  Malcha — Telegraph  Poles  and  Buffaloes — An 
Ancient  Cemetery — Bridges — Kal'at  Feluja — Exploring  'Anbar — ' Anbar 
not  Sepharvaim — Description  of  Ruins — History  of  'Anbar — Sir  Henry 
Rawlinson — Robbing  Graves  —  Jewish  Settlements — Sport  on  the 
Euphrates — Agricultural  Conditions — Volume  of  the  River — An  Arab 
Ruin — Farm  of  the  Sultan — Zaptieh's  Pay — Canals — 'Akerkuf  a  Canal 
Centre — Ancient  Name — Reach  Baghdad — Triumphal  Entrance. 

FRIDAY,  January  4th,  we  rose  soon  after  one 
o'clock,  and  by  2.15  the  whole  caravan  was  under 
way.  The  sky  was  cloudy,  and  we  could  see  nothing. 
Our  course  was  apparently  south-southeast,  over  a  plain 
partly  sandy,  partly  composed  of  mud  and  loam.  We 
passed  a  bitter  stream  from  the  bitumen  springs  called 
Ma'e  Mireh,  the  minaret  of  which  place  we  had  seen  the 
day  before,  and  shortly  after  found  ourselves  on  low, 
sandy  hills.  Here  the  zaptieh's  horse  fell  down,  and  he 
found  that  he  had  lost  his  way.  I  was  compelled  to 
officiate  as  guide,  and  by  means  of  map  and  compass 
steered  the  caravan  back  to  the  road.  It  was  so  dark 
that  we  were  obliged  to  keep  close  together,  and  con- 
stantly to  call  from  one  end  of  the  caravan  to  the  other, 
to  make  sure  that  none  had  strayed  away. 

Our  zaptieh  was  a  Le'beid  Arab.  He  said  that  his 
tribe  musters  five  to  six  thousand  tents,  probably  a  gross 
exaggeration.  He  had  been  in  the  service  thirty-five 
years,    and   had   a   wife    and   seven   children,   the  oldest 

16; 


1 66  NIPPUR, 

fourteen.  He  received  five  mejidich  a  month,  or  about 
four  dollars,  with  one  loaf  of  bread  daily  for  himself,  and 
three  okes  of  barley  and  a  ration  of  straw  for  his  horse. 
The  money  part  of  the  pay  was  six  months  in  arrears. 
He  said  that  when  zaptiehs  go  as  escort  with  Europeans, 
they  always  receive  a  good  backsheesh ;  with  Persians,  a 
smaller  backsheesh ;  and  with  Turks,  nothing.  It  was  our 
habit  to  give  the  zaptieh  about  half  a  mejidieh  a  day,  or 
three  days'  pay. 

At  five  minutes  past  six  we  reached  the  gypsum  hills 
of  A'kuba,  stretching  across  the  plain  to  the  banks  of  the 
Euphrates.  The  sun  rose  as  we  crossed  these  hills,  the 
most  glorious  sunrise  I  ever  saw.  Just  below  A'kuba, 
running  south  seventy  degrees  east,  we  observed  the  well- 
marked,  fairly  high  banks  of  the  old  canal  of  Sa'adi.  We 
followed  this  for  an  hour  and  a  quarter,  as  far  as  a  ruin 
mound  called  Tel  el-Adar.  At  this  point  the  canal 
turned  sharply  back  to  the  left,  and  then  disappeared. 
From  the  name,  which  I  met  again  near  Nejef,  and  the 
traditions  connecting  themselves  with  this  canal,  I  pre- 
sume that  it  is  identical  with  the  canal  which  is  known 
to  have  been  built  by  Nebuchadrezzar  along  the  edge  of 
the  Arabian  plateau,  from  a  point  just  below  Hit  to  the 
Persian  Gulf. 

At  nine  o'clock  we  found  ourselves  passing  over  fields 
strewn  with  considerable  remains  of  pottery,  but  with  no 
visible  tel.  At  9.20  we  passed  the  little  ziaret  of  Aweis 
el-Karrani,  just  beyond  which  were  some  low  foot-hills  of 
another  gypsum  range,  called  el-Tuweiref,  cutting  the 
plain  almost  in  two.  At  11.55  we  were  passing  a  group 
of  about  a  dozen  small  conical  hills,  composed  of  mud 
and  gypsum,  of  most  peculiar  appearance,  known  as  el- 
Beradhin.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Ramadieh  there  are 
numbers  of  farms  and  palm-groves,  and  the  region  seemed 
more  prosperous  than  almost  any  that  we  had  seen.  The 
plain  is  very  broad  at  this  point,  and  the  plateau  of  the 


HIT  TO  BAGHDAD.  1 67 

Arabian  desert  low.  The  Jezireh,  across  the  Euphrates, 
is  quite  flat.  The  land  is  so  low  on  both  sides  of  the 
river,  that  inundations  are  frequent,  and  many  more  or 
less  permanent  ponds  are  formed.  A  little  below  Rama- 
dieh,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  are  the  ruins  of  an 
ancient  mud-walled  town. 

At  half-past  twelve  we  passed  the  bed  of  a  deep  canal, 
called  Wara,  from  which  a  number  of  branches  ran  in 
every  direction,  apparently  meant  for  purposes  of  irriga- 
tion. There  was  no  water  in  the  canal  at  that  time ;  but 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  later  we  crossed  on  a  new  brick 
bridge,  a  remarkable  sign  of  progress,  the  still  used  canal 
of  el-Tash.  At  one  o'clock  we  reached  Ramadieh.  This 
proved  to  be  a  comparatively  bustling,  new-looking  town 
of  four  or  five  hundred  houses.  Whereas,  in  all  other 
places  excepting  Deir  we  had  been  lodged  in  zaptieh 
barracks,  we  found  here  a  khan,  newly  built  of  burned 
bricks  made  at  Ramadieh,  and  adjoining  a  new  govern- 
ment building  of  the  same  material.  I  saw  also  one 
private  house  of  the  same  sort.  It  must  be  understood 
that  buildings  of  brick  are  a  rarity  in  that  country;  and  it 
is  still  more  rare  to  find  buildings  of  new  bricks,  for,  if  the 
natives  use  brick  at  all,  they  generally  use  old  bricks  from 
some  ruin  site.  But  if  our  accommodations  were  more 
extensive  and  better  than  elsewhere,  as  though  to  make 
amends  for  this,  the  people  were  extremely  annoying  and 
rude,  encouraged  to  be  so  by  the  officials.  The  Kaima- 
kam,  Emin  Bey,  was  absent,  sick,  at  Saklawieh.  In  his 
absence,  the  under  officials  seemed  to  wish  to  show  their 
authority.  They  came  to  the  khan,  demanding  not  only 
to  see,  but  also  to  carry  away  with  them,  our  passports, 
and  to  search  our  luggage,  both  of  which  we  refused  to 
permit.  It  was  with  great  dif^culty  that  we  finally  got 
rid  of  them,  and  the  large  mob  that  accompanied  them, 
which  seemed  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  an  opportunity  to 
pilfer  us. 


1 68  NIPPUR. 

Ainsworth  identifies  Ramadieh  with  the  town  of  Char- 
mande  mentioned  by  Xenophon,  but  without  any  real 
grounds.  Xenophon's  description  of  the  march  dov/n 
the  Euphrates  is  meagre  in  the  extreme.  All  that  he 
says  of  Charmande  is  contained  in  his  brief  notice  of  the 
desert  stations  from  Korsote  to  Pylae.  They  marched 
thirteen  desert  stages,  ninety  parasangs,  having  the  Eu- 
phrates River  on  the  right,  and  arrived  at  Pylae.  In  this 
march  many  of  the  beasts  of  burden  died  ;  for  there  was 
no  grass  nor  any  trees,  but  the  entire  country  was  barren. 
The  few  inhabitants  along  the  river  supported  them- 
selves by  making  millstones  and  taking  them  to  Babylon, 
where  they  sold  them  for  food.  "  And  across  the  Eu- 
phrates River  during  these  desert  stages  there  was  a  large 
and  wealthy  city,  named  Charmande.  From  this  the 
soldiers  purchased  supplies,  crossing  over  thither  on 
skins."  Ramadieh  is  too  close  to  Pylae  to  be  thus 
described.  If  this  were  Charmande,  Xenophon  would 
have  described  it  as  at  the  end  of. the  desert  stages.  The 
Charmande  of  Xenophon  was  'Anah.  If  Ramadieh  is  an 
ancient  site,  which  is  very  probable,  it  has  not  yet  been 
identified. 

The  next  morning  the  officials  of  the  town  took  their 
revenge  for  our  refusal  to  gratify  their  curiosity  by  neg- 
lecting to  provide  us  with  a  zaptieh  escort.  We  had 
arisen  about  one  o'clock  with  the  intention  of  making  an 
early  start.  After  waiting  for  some  time  for  the  zaptieh, 
we  finally  started  without  him  at  4  A.M.,  leaving  Noorian 
behind  to  find  and  bring  him.  By  waking  up  all  of  the 
ofificials,  pounding  upon  their  doors,  and  allowing  them 
no  rest,  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  one  some  two  hours 
later.  The  zaptieh  himself  was  a  pleasant  fellow,  and 
more  than  willing  to  accompany  us.  He  was  a  Kurd. 
He  said  that  his  salary  was  four  months  in  arrears. 
Nominally  he  received  ninety  piastres  in  gold  ($3.60)  a 
month,    one  oke  of    wheat  a  day,    three  okes  of  barley 


HIT  TO  BAGHDAD.  1 69 

for  his  horse,  and  fifteen  piastres  (sixty  cents)  a  month 
for  straw  for  his  horse.  A  backsheesh  in  hard  cash, 
worth  several  days'  pay,  was  important  to  him. 

Our  route  lay  over  an  alluvial  plain  a  little  south  of 
east  by  the  stars.  I  observed  several  small  canals,  which 
I  at  first  supposed  were  for  purposes  of  irrigation;  but 
they  turned  out  to  have  been  dug  to  intercept  the 
locusts,  which  are  a  terrible  pest  along  the  whole  Eu- 
phrates Valley.  About  an  hour  and  a  half  after  starting, 
we  came  to  some  low  hills, — foot-hills  of  a  larger  range, 
— which  we  skirted  in  an  almost  easterly  direction.  They 
looked  in  most  places  as  though  composed  of  clay  mud, 
but  did  in  reality  consist  of  various  colored  marls,  with 
gypsum,  alabaster,  and  selenite  intermixed,  broken  into 
fantastic  shapes.  Under  various  names  they  continued 
to  a  point  as  far  beyond  Kal'at  Feluja  as  I  could  see. 
They  are  nowhere  of  any  size,  and  consist  of  a  succession 
of  small  ranges,  running  approximately  east  and  west  as 
far  as  Saklawieh,  where  they  turn  to  the  south.  They 
are  the  border  land  of  the  great  Arabian  Desert.  At 
about  nine  o'clock,  after  passing  through  some  foot-spurs 
of  the  hills  running  down  to  the  Euphrates,  we  found 
ourselves  in  a  large  irrigated  plain,  cultivated  in  barley, 
with  a  few  Arab  tents  on  the  river-bank  and  on  the  edge 
of  the  hills  on  the  other  side  of  the  plain.  On  our  right 
was  a  pond  or  lake  called  el-Tara.  It  is  at  this  point 
that  one  begins  to  meet  the  very  low  land  so  near  the 
level  of  the  stream  that  constant  inundations  occur,  form- 
ing lakes  and  marshes.  From  here  to  Kal'at  Feluja  and 
beyond,  the  river,  when  its  waters  are  in  the  least  swol- 
len, must  be  restrained  by  low  dikes  from  overflowing 
the  country  on  the  Arabian  side. 

At  half-past  ten  we  rounded  the  last  low  foot-hills  jut- 
ting forward  toward  the  river,  and  found  ourselves  in  a 
plain  stretching  to  the  southeast  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
see.      Here  the  telegraph  wires,  which  had  followed  the 


I/O  NIPPUR. 

hills  most  of  the  way  from  Ramadi,  crossed  the  river  to 
Saklawieh,  just  beyond  which  is  the  canal  of  the  same 
name,  identified  by  the  best  geographers  with  Isa  of  the 
Arabs.  A  little  below  was  the  ancient  Nahr  ]\Ialcha,  or 
royal  canal.  From  an  early  date  there  has  been  a  great 
ship-canal  connecting  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  at  about 
this  point.  In  the  time  of  Trajan  this  canal  was  the 
Nahr  Malcha,  which  left  the  Euphrates  near  here,  and 
entered  the  Tigris  just  abov^e  Seleucia.  At  the  close  of 
the  twelfth  century' A.  D.,  the  connecting  canal  was  the 
Nahr  Isa,  leaving  the  Euphrates  at  nearly  the  same  place, 
but  entering  the  Tigris  above  Baghdad.  This  canal  was 
still  navigable  for  boats  of  considerable  size  as  late  as 
sixty  years  ago,  when  one  of  the  steamboats  of  the  Brit- 
ish expedition  steamed  through  it  from  the  Euphrates  to 
the  Tigris,  a  distance  by  the  canal  of  forty-five  miles. 
Now  it  is  a  huge  muddy  ditch. 

There  are  a  post-office  and  telegraph  station  at  Ramadi ; 
and  we  had  hurried  into  that  town  with  a  view  to  using 
both,  especially  the  latter,  in  order  to  telegraph  to  ]\Ir. 
Blockey  at  Baghdad  to  secure  us  a  house,  but  found  that 
no  mail  left  Ramadi  before  Friday  of  the  following  week, 
and  that  the  telegraph  wires  were  down  somewhere  be- 
tween Saklawieh  and  Baghdad.  The  telegraph  poles  in 
this  countr}^  are  all  of  iron,  as  there  is  no  wood  with 
which  to  make  wooden  poles.  The  buffaloes  and  camels 
use  these  poles  as  rubbing-posts,  on  account  of  which 
deep  trenches  are  dug  about  them  to  keep  the  creatures 
off.  Nevertheless,  so  valuable  is  the  privilege  of  using  a 
rubbing-post,  that  both  buffaloes  and  camels  climb  down 
the  trench  and  up  again  on  the  other  side,  as  we  often 
observed.  The  contented  look  on  the  faces  of  the  beasts, 
as  they  rubbed  their  itching  backs,  could  almost  make 
one  fancy  that  they  were  ejaculating  "  God  bless  the 
Duke  of  Argyle  I  "  The  practice  is  not,  however,  good 
for  the  telegraph  poles,  which  have  to  be  straightened  up 


HIT  TO  BAGHDAD.  I7I 

at  frequent  intervals.  We  were  told  that  wild  Arabs  also 
occasionally  contrive  to  break  the  wires ;  but  whether  it 
was  buffaloes  or  Arabs  that  had  done  the  damage,  we 
were  unable  to  telegraph  to  Baghdad. 

At  half-past  eleven  we  were  opposite  the  long,  low 
mound  of  'Anbar,  close  to  the  river  on  the  other  side. 
At  twelve  o'clock,  to  the  right  of  our  road,  we  observed 
a  small  mound,  called,  as  we  were  informed,  Juha,  used 
as  a  cemetery  at  the  present  time,  and  apparently  having 
served  the  same  purpose  from  all  antiquity.  Its  surface 
was  no  more  than  six  feet  above  the  level  of  the  plain 
about  it.  All  around  lay  fragments  of  pottery,  and  the 
modern  graves  on  the  top  of  the  mound  were  decorated 
with  ancient  bricks  and  pieces  of  bricks.  A  number  of 
jar-coffins  were  exposed  on  the  edges  of  the  mound,  or 
above  the  ground  about  the  mound.  We  found  some 
five  in  all.  They  consisted  of  two  large  jars  put  together 
mouth  to  mouth.  One  of  these  jars  was  a  little  smaller 
than  the  other,  so  that  its  mouth  could  be  inserted  within 
the  mouth  of  the  other.  Sometimes  the  lips  just  joined 
one  another,  and  sometimes  they  overlapped  consider- 
ably. The  most  complete  coffin  of  this  description, 
which  we  found,  measured  188  centimetres  from  end  to 
end.  Another,  which  we  measured  on  the  following 
day,  had  a  head-piece  56  centimetres  in  length,  and  a 
foot-piece  66  centimetres  in  length.  Pieces  of  many 
other  coffins  of  the  same  sort  lay  scattered  about  ; 
and  some  Arabs,  who  Avere  digging  a  grave  on  the 
mound,  told  us  that  they  often  found  bones  there,  but 
never  antiquities,  by  which  I  suppose  they  meant  beads, 
seal  cylinders,  and  the  like.  There  were  quantities  of 
small  stones  of  all  sorts,  along  with  a  number  of  frag- 
ments of  millstones,  but  nothing  which  necessarily  indi- 
cated anything  other  than  a  graveyard.  As  head  and 
foot-stones,  on  a  new  Arabic  grave,  we  found  two  pieces 
of  marble  with  an  inscription  in  Hebrew  letters.     There 


172  NIPPUR. 

are  no  Jews  living  at  the  present  time  nearer  than  Bagh- 
dad ;  but  in  ancient  times  'Anbar  was  the  seat  of  an 
important  Jewish  school  of  learning,  and  the  centre  of  an 
enormous  population.  These  gravestones  are  the  only 
relics  which  we  noticed  of  the  occupation  of  that  region 
by  the  Jews.  To  the  southward  of  Juha,  not  very  far 
away,  two  small  groups  of  mounds  were  visible,  appar- 
ently of  the  same  character. 

We  spent  half  an  hour  exploring  Juha,  and  then  gal- 
loped on  to  overtake  the  caravan,  which  had  passed  us  in 
the  meantime.  It  took  about  an  hour's  fast  going  to 
reach  Kal'at  Feluja,  which  lies  at  the  end  of  the  rude 
bridge  of  boats  which  now  spans  the  river.  Presumably 
this  bridge  is  of  much  the  same  type  as  the  bridges 
which  once  connected  Mesopotamia  and  Syria,  at  Tiph- 
sah,  'Anah,  and  elsewhere.  The  bridges  on  the  middle 
Euphrates  have  all  disappeared,  but  from  Feluja  down- 
ward there  are  still  a  few.  The  next  bridge  below  is  at 
Musseyib,  on  the  pilgrim  route  from  Baghdad  to  Ker- 
bela.  There  is  also  a  bridge  at  Hillah,  there  is  some- 
times one  at  Diwanieh,  there  is  one  at  Samawa,  and 
possibly  there  may  be  one  or  two  farther  down,  with 
which  I  am  not  familiar. 

Kal'at  Feluja  was  once  upon  a  time,  as  the  name  indi- 
cates, a  fortress  or  castle;  and  the  remains  of  a  large 
Turkish  or  Arabic  building  of  burned  brick  are  still  to  be 
seen.  The  present  natives  use  the  old  ruins  as  a  quarry 
from  which  to  obtain  material  to  build  their  miserable 
huts,  when  they  are  not  too  shiftless  to  do  even  that. 
There  are  not  much  more  than  a  dozen  houses  in  the 
place,  of  which  several  are  so-called  cafes  for  the  refresh- 
ment and  entertainment  of  the  travellers  who  of  neces- 
sity make  the  bridge  a  stage  on  the  journey  to  or  from 
Baghdad.  On  the  Arabic  side  of  the  river  there  is  some 
cultivation  of  the  ground,  and  a  few  gardens  of  trees. 
In  the  Jezireh  there  appeared  to  be  no  cultivation  of  the 


HIT  TO  BAGHDAD.  1 73 

soil.  Pebble  hills  some  twenty  to  thirty  feet  in  height 
come  down  quite  close  to  the  Euphrates,  leaving,  how- 
ever, an  alluvial  strip  between  them  and  the  river,  on 
which  lie  the  towns  of  Feluja,  Saklawieh,  and  ancient 
'Anbar.  These  pebble  hills  are  spurs  of  the  rocky 
plateau  of  Mesopotamia  to  the  north. 

We  found  shelter  for  our  whole  caravan  in  one  of  the 
cafes  at  Feluja;  and,  excepting  that  we  shared  our 
accommodations  with  a  few  fleas,  -we  were  more  com- 
fortable, and  warmer,  than  at  any  other  place.  The  fol- 
lowing day  being  Sunday,  the  caravan  rested,  and  after 
service  we  set  out  on  foot  to  visit  and  explore  the  mound 
of  el-'Anbar.  After  a  walk  of  three  quarters  of  an  hour, 
we  reached  a  low  hill,  which  I  should  have  supposed  to 
be  natural  had  it  not  been  covered  with  fragments  of 
brick,  glass,  and  pottery.  This  was  only  one  of  a  series 
of  outlying  mounds,  all  of  which  were  strewn  with  frag- 
ments of  masonry.  I  had  brought  with  me  a  rudimentary 
spade,  and  we  dug  a  little.  The  bricks  which  we  found 
were  each  20  by  20  inches.  One,  which  I  broke  open,  had 
a  fragment  of  pottery  burned  in  it.  We  had  no  experi- 
ence to  guide  us  in  the  determination  of  Babylonian 
remains,  and  it  is  rather  interesting  to  me  to  read  now 
the  notes  which  I  made  at  that  time.  These  large  bricks 
were  of  a  pale  color,  and  gave  one  in  some  way  an  im- 
pression of  antiquity.  Besides  these,  there  were  smaller 
bricks  of  a  reddish  color,  and  in  shape  and  size  more 
closely  resembling  those  in  use  among  ourselves.  We 
had  already  seen  bricks  of  both  sorts  at  Jabrich  on  the 
Euphrates.  As  a  consequence  of  the  examination  of 
various  ruins  which  we  had  seen  up  to  that  time,  I  noted, 
that,  "  The  bricks  of  the  region  seem  to  me  to  be  at  the 
present  day  veiy  much  what  the  ordinary  bricks  were  in 
the  most  remote  period.  There  are  certain  special  sorts 
of  bricks  which  one  may  identify  as  belonging  to  a  cer- 
tain period,  but  the  ordinary  bricks  cannot  be  identified. 


174  KIP  PUR. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  pottery,  so  it  seems  to  me.  You 
find  all  along  the  Euphrates  Valley  the  same  pottery, 
sometimes  with  a  blue  or  green  glaze,  and  sometimes 
with  simple  line  ornaments.  The  sites  are  sometimes 
early,  sometimes  late,  but  the  pottery  seems  always  the 
same."  I  have  seen  no  occasion  to  alter  these  very  gen- 
eral conclusions,  which  were  reached  at  that  time.  But 
we  were  not  all  so  conservative.  One  of  our  assyriolo- 
gists  thought  that  by  the  pottery  he  could  detect  three 
periods  at  'Anbar, — one  Babylonian,  one  Greek,  and  one 
Turkish.  We  found  here  also  a  number  of  fragments  of 
what  he  pronounced  to  be  Babylonian  bricks  "  like  those: 
of  Ur, "  but  which  another  of  our  party  declared  to  be 
porous  volcanic  stones,  which  in  reality  they  were. 
Here  and  everywhere  over  the  mounds  of  'Anbar  w-e 
found  vitrifactions  due  to  a  great  conflagration,  some  in 
glass,  some  in  brick,  and  some  on  the  volcanic  stones. 

Twelve  minutes  from  the  first  small  hills,  which  were 
due  north-northwest  from  Kal'at  Feluja,  w^e  came  to  the 
main  mound  of  'Anbar.  Almost  isolated  at  the  eastern 
end  of  the  mound  is  the  high  point  known  as  el-'Aker. 
This  name  is  given  on  YixQ^crt'' s  Ri(i)icn  Fcldcr,  but,  curi- 
ously enough,  the  name  'Anbar  does  not  appear  there. 
We  found  at  several  places  portions  of  house  walls,  but 
all  late,  and  built  of  older  material.  In  a  depression 
toward  the  northern  part  of  the  tel  a  piece  of  rough,  red- 
dish marble  column  was  lying  on  the  ground.  Not  far 
from  this  was  a  large  ruined  ziaret,  in  Avhich  we  found  a 
marble  capital  with  late  Oriental  decoration,  but  badly- 
broken.  Near  this  was  an  isolated  hill  where  there 
seemed  to  have  been  a  tower.  We  found  here  part  of  a 
wall  standing,  but  it  was  late,  composed  of  older  frag- 
ments. We  dug  a  little  at  this  point,  tracing  a  heavy 
foundation  of  masonry. 

Dr.  Ward  proposed  the  identification  of  the  site  of 
'Anbar  with  the  ancient  Sippara,  the  Sepharvaim  of  the 


HIT  TO  BAGHDAD.  1 75 

Bible.  He  thought  that  he  found  a  double  city,  divided 
in  two  by  a  great  canal,  or  by  the  main  channel  of  the 
Euphrates.  He  supposed  also  that  he  traced  in  the  ruins 
the  lines  of  an  ancient  temple  or  two  of  the  Babylonian 
period. 

The  following  year  I  visited  'Anbar  quite  alone.  The 
description  from  my  note-book  of  that  date  will  sujDjole- 
ment  what  I  have  said  above : 

In  the  afternoon  I  rode  out  entirely  alone  to  revisit 
'Anbar.  First  I  rode  up  to  a  hill  with  tombs  on  it,  from 
the  top  of  which  I  had  a  good  view  of  the  country.  At 
Kal'at  Feluja  the  pebble  hills  reach  to  the  water's  edge; 
to  the  north  they  leave  a  considerable  extent  of  fertile 
and  well-cultivated  plain  between  themselves  and  the 
river;  and  in  this,  nearer  the  river  than  the  hills,  lies 
'Anbar.  I  approached  it  this  time  by  the  bed  of  a  good- 
sized  old  canal,  higher  than  the  plain,  which  brought  me 
almost  to  'Aker,  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  mound. 
This  is  no  tower  or  acropolis,  but  only  part  of  a  wall  of 
mud  brick.  The  wall,  which  is  easily  traceable  on  the 
south,  east,  and  north,  makes  at  this  point  a  curve;  and 
there  being  a  hollow  with  no  mound  within,  the  effect 
produced,  particularly  by  the  mass  A,  which  is  higher 
than  the  rest,  was  that  of  a  tower.  From  'Aker  I  fol- 
lowed the  line  of  wall  until  it  disappeared  on  the  north- 
west. Between  it  and  the  city  mound  was  a  well-marked 
depression,  but  on  the  northwestern  and  western  side  no 
wall  was  visible.  I  should  say  that  on  the  inner  or  city 
side  of  A,  the  unburned  bricks  of  the  wall  were  visible  in 
position.  They  were  of  small  size  and  inferior  appear- 
ance. On  the  northwestern  side  the  mound  was  highest. 
Here  it  rose  abruptly  from  the  plain,  and  had  evidently 
been  much  washed  against  by  the  Euphrates;  for  the 
plain  is  very  low,  and  only  protected  by  a  small  mud 
dike  along  the  river-bank.  I  examined  this  face  care- 
fully with  a  view  to  its  construction.     It  seemed  to  con- 


176  NIPPUR. 

sist  of  a  clay  terrace,  in  which  were  occasional  small 
layers  of  unburned  or  burned  brick.  There  was  a  broad, 
deep  depression  running  in  some  distance,  and  to  the 
west  of  this  (west-northwest  point  of  the  mound)  was 
the  highest  part  of  this  face  and  of  the  mounds.  Here, 
on  top  of  the  terrace,  was  brickwork,  apparently  of  walls, 
and  in  one  place  a  part  of  a  small  tower.  The  material 
of  the  construction  was  burned  brick,  the  bricks  small 
and  badly  burned.  This  place  I  judged  to  have  been  the 
old  acropolis  or  palace,  the  more  especially  as  it  projected 
slightly  beyond  the  mound  to  the  west  of  it,  and  was 
marked  off  from  that  by  a  slight  depression,  while,  as 
already  said,  it  was  cut  off  from  the  mound  to  the  east 
by  a  deep,  broad  bay.  The  surface  of  this  portion  of  the 
mound  was  very  thickly  covered  with  fragments  of  brick, 
so  thickly  that  for  forty  or  fifty  feet  from  the  edge  the 
ground  was  not  visible  beneath  them.  That  part  of  the 
mounds  which  lay  to  the  east  of  the  large  depression, 
which  extended  somewhat  more  than  half-way  through, 
is  small,  low,  and  insignificant,  and  is  largely  covered 
with  tamarisk  scrub.  The  appearances  of  a  conflagra- 
tion, which  impressed  me  so  strongly  on  my  first  visit, 
seem  to  be  confined  to  the  western  and  southern  parts  of 
the  mounds,  which  are,  however,  much  the  largest  part 
of  the  whole.  The  mound  is  nowhere  more  than  thirty 
(or  perhaps  forty  from  lowest  plain  level)  feet  high  ;  and, 
after  the  mounds  which  I  have  seen  in  the  interim,  it  did 
not  appear  so  large  as  before." 

The  Euphrates,  or  a  canal  from  the  Euphrates,  washed 
the  northern  shores  of  the  city  in  the  days  of  Julian; 
and  it  is  evident,  from  the  present  appearance  of  the  ruins, 
that  a  canal  was  conducted  from  the  Euphrates  into  the 
very  heart  of  the  city.  It  was  the  partial  division  made 
by  this  canal  which  led  Dr.  Ward  to  suppose  'Anbar  to 
have  been  a  double  city,  lying  upon  both  banks  either  of 
the  Euphrates  or  of  a  great  canal  from  the  Euphrates. 


HIT  TO   BAGHDAD. 


177 


On  the  basis  of  his  account  of  the  ruins,  we  had  applied 
for  permission  to  dig  at  this  spot  as  one  of  three  sites, 
but  the  permission  was  refused.  I  learned  later  from 
Bedry  Bey,  the  commissioner  assigned  to  us  by  the  Gov- 
ernment, that  this  was  because  'Anbar  lies  in  a  Sennieh, 
or  private  domain  of  the  Sultan.  The  ruins  are  of  great 
extent,  and  it  certainly  would  be  interesting  to  explore 
them. 


PLAN   OF     ANBAR. 

A  A^  A'— Wall  Line;  A'— 'Aker;  B  B'— Steep  front  on  W.  and  N.  W.  ;  B— Supposed 
Acropolis  ;  C — Deep  Depression  ;  D — Mound  without  the  walls. 

Abu'lfeda,  in  his  history,  narrates  that  Nebuchadrezzar 
built  the  city  of  Persabora,  where  'Anbar  later  stood. 
In  the  days  of  the  Emperor  Julian  it  was  an  important 
city; and  he  captured  it  in  his  Persian  expedition,  after  a 
desperate  resistance.  The  period  of  'Anbar's  greatest 
prosperity  was  during  the  Arabic  era.  It  was  then  a 
place  of  great  wealth,  and  the  seat  of  an  advanced  cul- 
ture. It  was  also  a  favorite  residence  of  the  Jews,  who 
inhabited  several  important  towns  in  this  immediate 
vicinity.  Even  in  Julian's  day  there  was,  not  far  beyond 
'Anbar,  a  city  inhabited  entirely  by  Jews.  The  remains 
to  be  observed  on  the  surface  at  the  present  time  are 


1/8  NIPPUR. 

presumably  altogether  remains  of  the  Arabic  period, 
although  some  individual  bricks  and  fragments  of  pot- 
ter>',  as  well  as  Sassanian  coins  which  have  been  found 
there,  belong  to  an  earlier  time. 

In  answer  to  some  inquiries  about  'Anbar,  which  I 
addressed  to  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  the  veteran  assyriol- 
ogist  and  explorer  of  Babylonia,  he  wrote,  under  date  of 
March  13,  1889,  a  most  interesting  note,  which  I  quote 
in  part : 

I  think  I  told  you,  when  you  spoke  to  me  on  the 
subject  in  London,  that  the  site  had  not  been  recognized 
in  old  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  history';  and  that  the 
Arab  story  of  Nebuchadrezzar's  colony  was  considered 
apocryphal,  not  being  confirmed  by  any  competent 
authority,  but,  on  the  contrar}^  discredited  by  the  nega- 
tive ev'idence  of  nearly  contemporary-  geography.  There 
may  have  been  a  Parthian  city  (Pacoria  or  Tiridata)  in 
the  vicinity,  if  not  on  the  same  site ;  but  the  true  his- 
torical foundation  of  'Anbar,  or,  as  it  was  originally 
called,  Firuz  Shapur,  took  place  at  the  hands  of  Shapur 
Dholahtaf,  King  of  Persia,  in  about  A.D.  350.  A  few 
years  later  (in  A.D.  363)  the  new  city  was  completely 
destroyed  by  Julian,  as  described  by  Ammianus  and 
Zosimus,  and  the  vitrified  potter\-  observed  by  you  may 
have  been  due  to  the  conflagration  of  this  period.  The 
city  rapidly  recovered  after  the  Roman  invasion,  and 
became  the  refuge  of  all  the  Christian  and  Jewish  colo- 
nies of  the  neighborhood.  The  first  Christian  bishop  was 
appointed  in  A.D.  540,  and  the  Jews  must  have  flocked 
in  soon  after  in  large  numbers  (especially  from  Pombe- 
ditha,  which  became  deserted,  the  Academy  being  sup- 
pressed), as  at  the  time  of  the  conquest  of  'Anbar  by 
Ali  (in  A.D.  657)  there  are  said  to  have  been  90,000  Jew- 
ish inhabitants.  Saffah,  the  founder  of  the  Abbasside 
Caliphate,  made  'Anbar  his  capital,  and  so  it  remained 
until  the  founding  of  Baghdad  by  Mansur  (in  A.D.  762). 


HIT  TO  BAGHDAD.  1 79 

There  is  nothing  more  to  be  said  about  'Anbar  until  the 
time  of  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  who,  strangely  enough, 
confounded  it  with  the  old  academical  city  of  Pombe- 
ditha,  owing,  probabh',  to  the  Jewish  doctors  of  this 
latter  city  having  all  taken  up  their  abode  in  the  new 
settlement  on  the  Euphrates,  when  the  ancient  Academy 
was  deserted.  Possibly,  indeed,  'Anbar  may  have  been 
known  as  the  second  Pombeditha  in  the  time  of  Benja- 
min. The  original  city  of  that  name  was,  however,  at 
Thishobar,  or  in  the  immediate  neighborhood." 

We  remained  at  'Anbar  until  half-past  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  when  Harper  and  I  set  out  to  revisit  the 
mound  of  Juha,  which  we  had  seen  the  day  before.  We 
were  accompanied  by  Mustafa  and  Rework,  the  strongest 
man  in  our  employ.  Two  enormous  vultures  were  sitting 
on  two  recent  graves.  They  seemed  half-gorged,  and 
allowed  us  to  approach  them  very  closely  before  they 
heavily  flapped  awa}-.  The  two  fragments  of  old  Hebrew 
gravestones,  which  had  been  set  up  as  head  and  foot- 
stones  over  a  modern  Arabic  grave,  we  appropriated,  and 
handed  them  to  ^lustafa,  who  put  them  in  the  pannier 
over  the  back  of  his  animal,  and  started  for  camp  at 
once,  accompanied  by  Rework,  while  we  stayed  to  dig 
up  some  graves  with  a  pick.  None  of  the  coffins  of  the 
two-jar  type  which  we  found  were  large  enough  to  allow 
a  body  to  be  placed  in  them  at  full  length.  They  seem 
rather  to  have  been  receptacles  for  the  dead,  after  those 
dead  had  already  been  buried  for  a  suf^cient  time  to 
allow  the  flesh  to  waste  away.  All  of  the  coflins,  how- 
ever, were  full  of  fine,  light,  packed  dirt  or  dust,  which 
had  sifted  in,  completely  filling  them,  so  that  it  was  dififi- 
cult  to  ascertain  precisely  the  condition  in  which  the 
bodies  had  been  interred.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
coffins  were,  as  described,  filled  with  dust,  and  because 
we  had  nothing  but  a  pick  to  work  with,  little  time  at 
our  disposal,  and  two  fighting  stallions  to  hold  while  we 


I  So  A'IPPUR. 

worked,  wc  could  not  even  determine  approximately  the 
original  position  of  the  skeletons  in  the  jars.  We  found 
in  no  parts  of  the  coffins  which  we  dug  out,  or  which  had 
previously  been  dug  out,  anything  but  bones,  dust,  and 
in  one  place  a  couple  of  feathers.  The  uniformity  of  the 
method  of  burial  in  jars  fitted  one  within  the  other  was 
interesting  and  curious.  Later  I  found  at  Nippur  burials 
of  this  same  sort. 

From  the  first  captivity  onward,  the  Jews  played  a 
great  role  in  Babylonia.  Only  a  small  part  of  them, 
descendants  of  those  deported  by  Nebuchadrezzar,  re- 
turned to  Judjea.  The  greater  portion  preferred  to 
remain  in  Babylonia.  These  continued  to  call  them- 
selves Galutha,  the  captives  (literally,  the  "  captivity  "). 
The  study  of  the  law  was  pursued  among  them ;  ancient 
traditions  and  literature  were  collected  and  preserved ; 
laws,  rites,  and  the  like  were  reduced  to  writing,  codified, 
developed,  and  commented  upon.  The  captives,  as  they 
called  themselves,  made  pilgrimages  to  Jerusalem,  con- 
tributed to  the  support  of  their  brethren,  and  pathetically 
bewailed  their  own  exile,  very  much  as  is  done  by  Jewish 
pilgrims  to  Jerusalem  at  the  present  day.  The  beautiful 
Pilgrim  Psalter,  or  Songs  of  Degrees  (Psalms  cxx-cxxxiv) 
is  a  collection  of  hymns  sung  by  the  pilgrims  of  this  Baby- 
lonian "  captivity  "  on  their  pilgrimages  to  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem.  After  the  destruction  of  the  temple  by  Titus, 
and  the  further  dispersion  of  the  Jews  by  Hadrian,  fol- 
lowing the  suppression  of  the  revolt  under  Bar-Cochab, 
the  Jews  of  the  Babylonian  "  captivity  "  received  a  con- 
siderable accession  of  numbers,  and  a  far  greater  acces- 
sion of  influence.  From  that  time  onward,  for  some 
centuries.  Babylonia  was  the  true  home  of  the  Jewish 
nation  and  religion. 

There  were  two  great  centres  of  the  Jews  in  Babylonia, 
— one,  in  which  was  Sura,  near  Babylon  itself;  and  the 
other,  and  more  famous  centre,  at  Nehardea,  or  Nearda, 


HIT  TO  BAGHDAD.  l8l 

which  was  either  at  or  near  the  junction  of  the  Euphrates 
and  the  Nahr  Malcha,  not  far  below  'Anbar.  This  was 
for  a  long  time  the  religious  centre  of  the  Jews.  Here  was 
their  greatest  school,  and  here  resided  the  Resh  Gal- 
utha,  or  Head  of  the  Captivity.  During  the  Parthian 
period,  in  the  first  century  A.D.,  two  brothers,  Asinai 
and  Anilai,  made  Nehardea  for  a  brief  period  a  practically 
independent  Jewish  state.  For  a  long  time  Nehardea 
continued  to  be  a  Jewish  city;  and  no  Christians  were 
found  there,  we  are  told,  until  the  close  of  the  third  cen- 
tury A.D.  In  the  fifth  century,  however,  the  place  be- 
came the  seat  of  a  Christian  bishop.  Nehardea  was 
followed  by  Pombeditha  as  the  seat  of  the  great  Jewish 
university,  and  the  centre  of  religious  and  national  life  to 
the  Jews  of  Babylonia.  This  was  situated  on  the 
Euphrates  somewhere,  I  should  judge,  in  the  same 
general  region,  and  not  far  above  Nehardea,  but  its  pre- 
cise location  is  not  known.  The  name  is  explained  as 
meaning  "  mouth  of  a  canal  called  Beditha."  The  place 
is  also  sometimes  called  Golah,  or  "  Captivity."  It  was 
destroyed  in  588  A.D.,  whereupon  the  Jews  took  refuge, 
as  already  stated,  in  Perisabor  or  'Anbar.  That  part  of 
the  Euphrates  Valley,  in  the  low  marshy  land,  much  cut 
up  by  canals  and  ponds,  was  the  centre  of  a  large,  w^ealthy 
and  important  Jewish  population  under  Parthians,  Per- 
sians, and  Arabs,  from  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era, 
or  earlier,  until  the  foundation  of  Baghdad  and  the  decay 
of  'Anbar, — a  period  of  eight  hundred  years  or  more. 
It  is  to  be  expected  that  some  day  we  shall  find  much 
more  serious  remains  of  this  important  period  of  Jewish 
occupation  than  a  couple  of  fragments  of  late  Jewish 
gravestones  on  an  insignificant  burial-mound. 

It  was  some  time  after  sunset  before  we  left  Juha;  and, 
although  we  galloped  fast,  it  was  already  pitch  dark  when 
we  reached  Kal'at  Feluja.  In  order  to  secure  a  house  to 
receive  us  on  our  arrival  at  Baghdad,  I  sent  Noorian  for- 


1 82  NIPPUR. 

ward  in  the  night  with  our  one  zaptieh.  We  had  asked 
for  two  zaptiehs  from  Saklawieh,  for  there  is  no  station 
at  Kal'at  Feluja;  but  they  sent  us  only  one,  saying 
that  they  had  no  more. 

At  Feluja  our  journey  down  the  Euphrates  came  to  an 
end,  for  here  the  road  to  Baghdad  leaves  that  river.  For 
precisely  three  weeks  we  had  journeyed  along  the  banks 
of  the  great  river.  In  describing  that  journey  I  have 
dwelt  mainly  on  the  antiquities  which  mark  the  course  .of 
the  stream, — dumb  relics  of  ruined  towns  and  castles, 
which  yet  narrate  most  eloquent  stories  of  that  which  has 
been.  But  although  the  Euphrates  is  far  more  important 
for  its  past  than  for  its  present,  yet  even  this  is  not 
devoid  of  interest.  To  the  sportsman  it  is  a  region  pos- 
sessing some  attractions,  with  its  jungles  full  of  wild  pigs, 
w^th  lions,  lynxes,  and  the  like  at  rare  intervals.  Foxes, 
wolves,  jackals,  and  hyenas  are  abundant,  if  one  might 
condescend  to  shoot  them.  The  elephant  and  ostrich 
have  vanished,  but  a  lucky  hunter  might  chance  to  find  a 
wild  ass;  and  gazelles,  at  least,  are  plentiful.  Francolins, 
pigeons,  rock  partridges,  and  numerous  water-fowl  invite 
the  shot-gun.  Crocodiles,  if  they  ever  existed  in  the 
Euphrates,  as  old  writers  aver,  have  given  place  to  the 
great  monitor  lizard,  and  the  huge  turtles  of  the  river  are 
reported  to  be  dangerous  adversaries.  The  river  is  full  of 
enormous  fish,  which  are  an  important  source  of  food-sup- 
ply to  the  natives.  At  Haditha,  and  probably  also  else- 
where, they  dry  them,  and  then  pound  them  into  a  sort  of 
flour,   in  which  state  they  are  stored  for  later  use. 

The  agricultural  possibilities  of  the  Euphrates  must 
also  attract  the  attention  of  the  traveller.  The  alluvial 
bed  of  the  river,  generally  two  or  three  miles  in  breadth, 
between  steep  banks  of  marl  or  gypsum  from  a  hundred 
to  three  hundred  feet  in  height,  is  amazingly  fertile  when 
irrigated,  and  the  only  fertilizer  which  it  requires  is  the 
water  of  the  river.      Such  cultivation  as  now  exists  above 


HIT  TO  BAGHDAD.  1 83 

'Anah  is  chiefly  of  durra  (a  coarse,  maize-like  grain),  with 
a  httle  wheat,  sesame,  and  barley.  Immense  tracts  of 
waste  land  are  overgrown  with  licorice.  Tamarisk,  pop- 
lars, mulberries,  and  a  species  of  osier  willow,  with  a  few 
olives,  are  the  only  trees  I  observed  in  the  upper  reaches 
of  the  river;  but  from  'Anah  downward,  palms  fringe  the 
stream,  and  cover  the  islands  at  every  settlement ;  and 
with  these  one  finds,  in  addition  to  the  tamarisk  and  the 
mulberry,  fig-trees,  pomegranates,  lemons,  and  oranges. 
Below  'Anah,  cotton  is  added  to  the  other  crops.  The 
actuality  is  small,  but  the  potentiality  with  a  civilized 
government  and  means  of  transportation  is  great.  The 
Euphrates  is  a  natural  channel  of  communication  between 
the  eastern  and  western  portions  of  the  Turkish  Empire, 
and  the  day  must  come  when  railroads  and  steamboats 
will  ply  on  and  along  its  shores.  Then  the  old  sites  will 
revive,  and  become  wealthier  and  more  prosperous  than 
in  times  of  old;  for  the  Euphrates  has  a  future  as  surely 
as  it  has  had  a  past. 

From  Meskene  to  Feluja  along  the  river,  according 
to  the  measurements  of  the  British  expedition,  is  585^ 
miles.  From  Feluja  to  the  Persian  Gulf  the  length  of 
the  stream  is  445|-  miles.  Above  Hit  it  occupies  a  bed 
which  it  has  worn  in  the  rock.  Below  Saklawieh  it 
flows  through  an  alluvial  country  formed  by  its  own  de- 
posits, where  there  is  no  rock,  nor  even  a  stone  as  large 
as  a  pigeon's  ^g'g,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  so-called 
pebble  hills,  which  are  spurs  of  the  rock  plateau  above, 
and  formed  originally  islands  in  the  great  sea  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  The  fall  of  the  Euphrates  in  the 
territory  described  is  about  six  inches  to  the  mile.  Be- 
tween the  mouth  of  the  Khabor  and  Abu  Kemal  the 
average  width  of  the  river  is  400  yards,  its  depth  18  feet, 
and  the  velocity  of  its  current  at  flood  4  miles  an  hour. 
From  this  point  downward  there  is  a  progressive  diminu- 
tion.    At   'Anah  the  figures  are  350  yards,  18  feet,  and 


1 84  NIPPUR. 

4  miles;  at  Haditha,  300  yards,  18  feet,  and  4  miles; 
from  Haditha  to  Hit,  350  yards,  16  feet,  and  3  miles; 
from  Hit  to  Feluja,  250  yards,  20  feet,  and  less  than  2\ 
miles.  Below  Feluja  the  stream  is  dissipated  in  canals 
and  marshes,  but  returns  to  apjDroximately  the  same 
dimensions  at  Samawa.  While  a  much  longer  river  than 
the  Tigris,  its  current  is  less  rapid,  and  the  volume  of 
water  discharged  less  than  half  as  great.  The  mean 
velocity  of  the  current  of  the  Euphrates  at  Hit  is  4.46 
feet  per  second,  and  of  that  of  the  Tigris  at  Baghdad, 
7.33.  The  quantity  of  water  discharged  by  the  Eu- 
phrates is  72,804  cubic  feet  per  second  ;  and  by  the  Tigris, 
164,103  cubic  feet. 

It  was  our  intention  to  visit  'Akerkuf  on  the  road 
to  Baghdad.  One  of  our  muleteers  professed  to  know 
the  road,  and,  in  default  of  a  zaptieh,  we  took  him  as 
guide.  We  had  purposed  going  north  to  'Anbar  to 
photograph  the  Avails,  and  from  there  to  'Akerkuf;  but 
there  W'as  a  dense  fog,  which  rendered  photographing  im- 
possible, and  we  accordingly  chose  the  more  direct  road. 
Following  the  guidance  of  our  muleteer,  we  journeyed 
first  south  of  east  over  allu\dal  soil,  passing,  half  an 
hour  from  Kal'at  Feluja,  some  ruins  known  as  Kullat-el- 
Ahrab.  There  were  mud-brick  walls  in  the  form  of  a 
square,  while  fragments  of  baked  bricks  and  pottery  lay 
about.  Twenty  minutes  later  we  reached  the  edge  of 
the  pebble  hills.  The  soil  was  first  gravelly,  developing 
later  into  hills  of  pebbles,  with  patches  of  loam  in  the 
little  valleys  between,  and  layers  of  gypsum  cropping 
out  at  intervals.  From  time  to  time  there  loomed 
silently  out  of  the  fog  great  caravans  of  camels  on  their 
way  to  the  bridge.  Little  by  little  the  fog  lifted,  and  at 
9.30  we  could  see  a  large  building,  which  our  muleteers 
called  a  serai,  somewhat  south  of  east.  They  told  us 
that  there  was  there  a  Sennieh  of  the  Sultan ;  and  that 
this   serai   was   the   place   of   residence  of  the  ofificial  in 


HIT  TO  BAGHDAD.  1 8$ 

charge,  and  contained  the  offices,  storehouses,  etc.  Be- 
yond this  in  the  distance  was  a  ruin  mound,  which  we 
were  told  was  'Akr-el-Ajedat.  Half  an  hour  later  we 
found  ourselves  on  the  southeastern  edge  of  the  pebble 
hills,  with  stubble-fields  of  durra  on  our  right ;  and  ten 
minutes  later  we  turned  to  the  southeast  to  go  to  a  ruin, 
visible  in  the  distance,  which  our  muleteers  pronounced 
to  be  the  ruins  of  'Akerkuf,  but  which  actually  turned 
out  to  be  the  ancient  site  known  as  Sennadieh.  \\'e 
passed  on  our  right,  at  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  a 
small  low  tel  crowned  with  a  large  ziaret,  which  seemed 
to  be  an  unusually  holy  place,  and  consequently  also  a 
favorite  place  of  burial.  Our  muleteers  called  this  Hahr- 
Mahmud.  Here  we  began  to  cross  the  beds  of  old 
canals.  The  first  of  these  which  we  crossed,  and  which 
we  were  told  was  called  IMuradieh,  serves  at  the  present 
time  as  a  road.  The  beds  of  these  canals  are  all  above 
the  level  of  the  plain,  and  the  banks  are  often  very  high. 
In  less  than  an  hour  we  crossed  four  or  fi\-e  such  canals 
running  in  different  directions,  and  in  the  bed  of  one  of 
them  we  travelled  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

It  was  a  little  after  eleven  when  we  reached  the  ruins 
of  Sennadieh.  In  a  plain  shut  in  on  all  sides  by  tels  and 
canal-banks  was  a  field  of  ruins, — bricks,  pottery,  tiles, 
and  fragments  of  walls.  Toward  the  northern  end  of 
this  field  a  section  of  a  domed  building  was  still  standing. 
This  building  was  in  the  form  of  a  square  below,  each 
side  measuring  8.25  metres  over  all.  On  this  was  set  an 
octagon,  and  on  the  octagon  a  dome,  the  latter  broken 
through  at  the  top.  This  form  of  construction  is  not 
unlike  that  adopted  by  the  Byzantine  Greeks  from  Jus- 
tinian's time  onward,  and  which  after  the  conquest  of 
Constantinople,  under  the  influence  of  Sancta  Sophia, 
became  the  regular  form  for  mosques  throughout  the 
Turkish  Empire.  The  sides  of  the  octagon  were  highly 
decorated  with  a  pattern   in   fine  glazed  blue  tiles  and 


l86  NIPPUR. 

light-colored  decorated  unglazed  brick  tiles.  The  pat- 
tern was  in  arabesque  lines.  This  was  the  best-preserved 
portion  of  an  extensive  ruin  with  very  massive  walls.  It 
was  Arabic  and  of  a  good  period.  The  ancient  name  of 
the  place  was  Sindea.  Close  at  hand,  south  twenty 
degrees  west,  was  another  ruin,  called  Musbugh. 

From  Sennadieh  our  course  to  the  serai  on  the  Sennieh 
was  about  due  west.  This  serai  was  larger,  newer,  and 
in  better  condition  than  the  ordinary  zaptieh  barracks 
which  we  had  found  along  the  road,  but  of  a  similar  pat- 
tern. We  were  assigned  a  room  on  the  roof,  from  which 
we  obtained  a  fine  view  of  the  various  ruin  mounds  and 
points  of  interest  in  the  neighborhood.  'Akerkuf  was  visi- 
ble in  the  distance  over  the  pebble  hills  seventy  degrees 
east  of  north.  Tel  Kenise,  which  is  supposed  to  represent 
the  ancient  Cunaxa,  where  Cyrus  was  killed  in  battle 
with  his  brother  Artaxerxes,  lay  not  far  away  from  us 
almost  due  south.  Other  ruin  mounds  were  visible  in 
different  directions.  The  official  in  charge  of  the  serai 
called  on  us  shortly  after  our  arrival.  He  was  a  pleas- 
ant, elderly  gentleman,  and  said  that  he  had  accom- 
panied de  Sarzec  in  his  first  diggings  six  or  seven  years 
before.  The  serai  had  only  been  built  one  year,  and  he 
had  only  been  in  charge  of  it  four  days.  He  had  under 
him  six  zaptiehs.  The  private  domains  of  the  Sultan  in 
this  region  are  large,  and  constantly  on  the  increase. 
These  lands  are  exempt  from  taxation,  and  the  acquisi- 
tion by  his  Majesty  of  so  much  of  the  cultivable  land  of 
the  province  has  seriously  curtailed  the  revenues  of 
Baghdad.  The  old  gentleman  was  uneasy  about  our 
rifles,  and  uncertain  whether  he  ought  not  to  command 
their  seizure  on  the  ground  that  they  were  forbidden. 
We  therefore  had  them  packed  away;  and,  after  they 
were  thus  removed  from  sight,  his  trouble  in  regard  to 
them  seemed  to  vanish  also.  Two  or  three  members  of 
our  party,    among  them   myself,    were   taken    sick    that 


HIT  TO  BAGHDAD.  1 8/ 

night,  whether  as  a  consequence  of  something  eaten, 
general  fatigue,  exposure  to  cold,  or  the  water  of  the 
place.  In  the  case  of  the  rest  of  us,  it  amounted  to  little 
more  than  a  temporary  annoyance ;  but  with  Prince  it 
developed  into  a  real  illness. 

The  next  morning,  January  8th,  we  were  under  way 
by  half-past  five.  The  Governor  of  the  Sennieh  gave  us 
a  zaptieh,  who  turned  out  to  be  a  better  guide  than  our 
muleteer  of  the  day  before.  He  received,  so  he  told  us, 
a  lira  a  month  as  salary,  with  an  allowance  of  half  an  oke 
(less  than  a  pound  and  a  half)  of  bread  daily,  and  three 
okes  (or  less  than  nine  pounds)  of  barley  and  a  sufficient 
supply  of  straw  for  his  horse  (an  oke  is  2.83  lbs.).  His 
salar}'  was  about  four  months  in  arrears,  but  the  total 
debt  of  the  Government  to  him  amounted  to  some  sixty 
liras.  He  receives  each  year  a  salary  of  only  about  seven 
months. 

We  merely  touched  the  edge  of  the  pebble  hills,  our 
course,  with  that  exception,  being  over  alluvial  soil. 
Some  distance  to  our  left  were  two  small  hills,  apparently 
sand-hills,  with  ziarets  upon  them.  Ten  minutes  after 
passing  these,  we  found  ourselves  in  the  bed  of  the  old 
Muradieh  Canal,  travelling  eastward.  The  canal  was  very 
crooked,  and  a  quarter  of  an  hour  later  it  bent  so  much 
to  the  northward  that  we  were  compelled  to  leave  it. 
Our  course  now  lay  over  a  plain  covered  by  a  network 
of  old  canals,  whose  banks  rose  like  hills  on  every  side  of 
us.  Wild  gourds  grow  in  abundance  on  the  surface  of 
the  plain.  At  6.40  we  crossed  a  canal  running  at  about 
right  angles.  At  6.45  we  crossed  a  canal  running  north 
thirty  degrees  east.  At  6.48  we  crossed  another  canal  at 
right  angles.  At  6.55  we  crossed  a  canal  running  north 
twenty  degrees  west,  and  at  6.57  another  running  parallel 
to  this.  I  need  not  mention  all  the  other  canals  we 
crossed,  as  these  will  suffice  to  show  how  numerous  they 
are  in  that  section.     The  Arabs  told  us  that  all  of  these 


1 88  NirruR. 

canals  ran  to  'Akerkuf;  and  if  this  is  not  literally  and 
exactly  correct,  at  least  it  seems  to  be  the  fact  that 
'Akerkuf  is  the  centre  of  the  canal  system  covering  all 
this  section.  About  seven  o'clock  we  joined  the  caravan 
track  leading  from  Kal'at  Feluja  to  Baghdad,  which  we 
should  have  followed  on  the  preceding  day,  had  not  our 
muleteers  lost  their  way  in  the  fog.  Along  this  we  jour- 
neyed for  a  while,  passing  half  a  dozen  huge  canals  run- 
ning in  various  directions,  and  then  turned  off  northward 
into  a  perfect  maze  of  canals,  in  the  centre  of  which,  on 
the  edge  of  a  great  marsh,  stands  'Akerkuf. 

This  prominent  ruin  consists  of  an  immense  mass  of 
solid  sun-dried  brick,  on  the  summit  of  a  rather  low 
mound,  which  latter  is  littered  with  fragments  of  burned 
brick,  pottery  of  all  sorts,  and  glass  in  small  quantities. 
The  portion  of  the  tower  still  standing  measures,  accord- 
ing to  Hilprecht's  count  of  the  layers  of  brick,  ninety-six 
feet.  Its  corners  are  approximately  toward  the  cardinal 
points.  The  unbaked  bricks  of  which  it  is  built  average 
twenty-eight  and  a  half  centimetres  in  length  and 
breadth,  and  eleven  centimetres  in  thickness.  They  are 
all  laid  flat,  and  not,  as  at  Nippur,  some  on  the  edge,  and 
some  on  the  side.  After  each  seven  courses,  or  there- 
abouts, there  is  a  layer  of  palm  matting,  while  through 
the  bricks  at  irregular  intervals  run  ropes  of  palm  strands. 
There  is  a  slight  depression  to  the  south  and  southwest 
of  the  tel,  and  small  mounds  to  the  south,  east,  and  west. 
To  the  west,  northwest,  and  north,  stretches  the  marshy 
lake  called  Khor-el-Hasai.  Various  tels  can  be  seen  in 
different  directions,  while  almost  innumerable  canals  in- 
tersect the  country,  having  'Akerkuf  or  its  neighborhood 
as  the  special  centre  from  which  they  radiate.  Baghdad 
was  visible  a  little  to  the  south  of  east,  and  the  golden 
domes  and  minarets  of  Imam  Musa  shone  out  a  little  to 
the  north  of  east.  Without  excavation,  it  is  perhaps 
impossible  to  say  certainly  what  sort  of  place  'Akerkuf 


^. 


The  Ruined  Tower  of  'Akerkuf,  near  Baghdad. 


HIT  TO   BAGHDAD.  1 89 

was,  and  to  what  period  it  belonged.  Inscribed  bricks 
have  been  found  there  bearing  the  name  of  Kurigalzu, 
presumably  Kurigalzu  the  Second,  a  king  of  the  Cosseean 
dynasty,  who  ruled  in  Babylon  from  1 306  to  1 284  B.  C.  ;  and 
the  place  has  been  designated  by  some  Dur-Kurigalzu. 

'Akerkuf  has  ordinarily  been  supposed  to  be  the  re- 
mains of  an  ancient  ziggurat.  It  does  not  seem  to  me, 
from  the  examination  of  the  ruins  which  I  made  in  my 
two  or  three  visits,  that  this  can  have  been  the  case.  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that  it  is  the  ruin  of  an  ancient 
tower  or  fortress  which  guarded  a  great  canal  centre.  In 
the  time  of  the  Abbasside  Caliphs  it  is  mentioned,  under 
the  name  of  Akakuba,  as  an  important  point  on  the  canal 
system  between  'Anbar  and  Baghdad.  Somewhere  in 
this  neighborhood,  or  a  little  farther  to  the  south,  stood, 
in  Julian's  time,  the  city  of  Maogamalcha,  which  opposed 
his  progress  toward  Ctesiphon  after  the  capture  of  'An- 
bar, and  which  he  took  and  destroyed  after  a  desperate 
resistance. 

We  left  'Akerkuf  at  quarter-past  ten,  taking  a  course 
nearly  southeast.  We  soon  found  ourselves  in  another 
network  of  canals,  crossing  in  seven  minutes  as  many 
large  canals.  Half  an  hour  after  starting,  we  reached  an 
Arab  encampment,  about  which  were  a  number  of  camels 
feeding.  We  had  seen  a  similar  encampment  to  the 
north  of  'Akerkuf.  This  whole  country,  up  to  the  very 
walls  of  the  great  city  of  Baghdad,  is  a  "  no  man's  land," 
wandered  over  by  Arab  tribes,  and  unsafe  for  the  unpro- 
tected traveller  or  solitary  horseman. 

Shortly  before  noon  we  crossed  the  stream  of  Washash, 
flowing  almost  east  to  the  Tigris.  Our  guide  told  us 
that  during  the  winter  season  the  water  flows  from  the 
marsh  to  the  north  of  'Akerkuf  toward  the  Tigris,  but  in 
the  summer  it  flows  from  the  Tigris  toward  the  marsh. 
The  litter  containing  the  Baghdad  murderer  came  to  a 
halt  in  this  stream,  the  mules  refusing  to  budge.     They 


igO  NIPPUR. 

even  undertook  to  roll  in  the  water;  and  it  was  with  some 
difficulty  that  the  murderer  was  extricated,  and  carried  to 
the  shore  on  the  backs  of  men. 

Outside  of  Baghdad,  Noorian,  and  the  zaptieh  who 
had  been  sent  forward  with  him,  were  awaiting  us. 
Bedry  Bey,  the  commissioner  appointed  by  the  Gov^ern- 
ment  to  attend  us  in  our  excavations,  was  also  there  on 
horseback,  attended  by  his  servant  on  foot ;  and  two 
cawasses  from  the  English  Consul-General  were  on  hand 
to  add  ceremony  to  our  entrance.  It  was  quite  a  pom- 
pous procession.  First  came  the  two  zaptiehs;  then  the 
two  cawasses;  then  I,  escorted  by  Bedry  Bey,  who  rode 
his  horse  a  neck  behind  mine ;  then  the  several  members 
of  the  expedition;  and  finally  the  caravan  with  its 
attaches,  numbering  some  fifty  beasts  or  more.  The 
streets  were  so  narrow  that  it  was  almost  impossible 
much  of  the  time  for  two  of  us  to  ride  abreast.  On  the 
way,  another  cawass  from  the  British  Consul-General  met 
us  with  a  note  from  the  latter,  inviting  us  to  dine  with 
him  that  evening,  and  announcing  that  he  would  call 
upon  us  as  soon  as  we  had  had  time  fairly  to  settle  our- 
selves in  our  house.  The  whole  town  seemed  to  have 
heard  of  our  coming;  and.  thanks  to  the  British  Resi- 
dent, our  entrance  resembled  a  triumphal  procession. 


i.i 


A  Scene  on  the  Tigris  ai  Baghdad,  showing  characteristic  native  boats, 

the  long  luradas,  and  the  round,  pitch-smeared  kufas, 

with  bridge  of  boats  bevond. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BAGHDAD  AND   BABYLON. 

The  British  Resident — A  Turkish  Toothache — Antiquity  Dealers — Our 
Commissioner — Ancient  Baghdadu — Modern  Baghdad — The  Date  Mark 
— A  Trip  to  Ctesiphon — The  Palace  of  Chosroes — Purchase  of  Anti— 
quities — A  Holy  Shrine — Audience  of  the  Wall  Pasha — Leave  to  De- 
part— The  Start — A  Khan — Excavations  at  Abu  Habba — The  Garden 
of  Eden — Babil — Nebuchadrezzar's  Tree  —  Antiquity  Ferrets — The 
Hanging  Gardens — Hillah — Birs  Nimrud — The  Tower  of  Babel. 

OUR  house  in  Baghdad  was  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  Tigris,  where  all  the  consuls  and  foreign 
residents  reside.  The  rent  which  we  paid  for  this  resi- 
dence, unfurnished,  was  eighteen  piastres  (seventy-two 
cents)  a  day.  It  was  a  large  and  commodious  building, 
containing  accommodations  for  the  whole  party,  our  lug- 
gage, our  servants,  and  our  horses.  We  had  scarcely 
alighted  on  the  day  of  our  arrival,  before  Major  Talbot, 
acting  Indian  Resident  and  British  Consul-General  in 
the  absence  of  Colonel  Tweedy,  and  'Sir.  Blockey,  our 
financial  correspondent  in  Baghdad,  called  upon  us. 
That  evening  Harper,  Field,  and  I,  together  with  Mr. 
Blockey,  dined  with  Major  and  Mrs.  Talbot  at  the  Brit- 
ish Residency,  and  the  following  evening  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  party  were  entertained  in  a  similar  manner. 
The  Talbots  were  charming  in  every  way,  and  Major 
Talbot  took  as  much  pains  with  us  as  though  we  had 
been  an  expedition  sent  out  by  his  own  government. 
He  proposed  to  go  with  me  to  see  the  Wall  Pasha,  and 

igi 


192  NIPPUR. 

offered  to  send  the  next  day  and  inquire  when  the  latter 
would  receive  me.  He  informed  me  that  Mustafa 
Assim  Pasha,  the  then  Governor-General,  was,  on  the 
whole,  a  good  official,  and  one  who  \vould  be  likely  to  do 
what  he  could  to  be  obliging,  more  especially  to  any  one 
presented  by  the  British  Resident.  The  English  Gov- 
ernment maintains  a  large  establishment  at  this  point, 
and  the  British  Resident  is  a  man  of  much  importance. 
The  expenses  of  this  establishment  are  borne  by  India, 
the  British  Consul-General  being  Resident  in  behalf  of 
the  Indian  administration.  He  has  a  force  of  Sepoys  at 
his  disposal,  and  a  gunboat  on  the  river;  and  there  is  in 
the  Residency  a  post-office,  which  is  a  station  of  the 
Indian  postal  system.  Owing  largely  to  this  display, 
the  British  Resident  takes  a  high  position  in  the  estima- 
tion both  of  government  and  people.  He  is  reckoned  as 
second  in  importance  only  to  the  Governor-General.  It 
was  accordingly  of  the  greatest  value  to  us  to  have  Mr. 
Talbot  so  ostentatiously  and  immediately  acknowledge 
us  as  his  countrymen.  His  conduct  was  all  the  more 
graceful,  because  he  had  not  received  any  official  notifi- 
cation in  regard  to  the  mission  in  advance  of  our  arrival. 
The  next  morning  Major  Talbot  sent  to  the  Governor- 
General  to  inquire  when  he  would  see  me,  and  ascer- 
tained that  he  was  sick  Avith  a  toothache,  and  could  see 
no  one.  I  went  with  Bedry  Bey  to  see  ]\Ir.  Blockey, 
our  correspondent,  and  M.  Henri  Pognon,  the  distin- 
guished assyriologist,  who  was  then  acting  as  French  and 
Russian  Consul  at  Baghdad.  I  soon  ascertained  that 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  work  to  be  done  to  put  matters 
in  shape  before  leaving  Baghdad.  The  boxes,  which 
had  been  sent  directly  from  England  and  America,  had 
all  been  opened,  and  a  good  deal  of  small  pilfering  had 
taken  place  at  the  custom-house.  It  was  necessary  to 
have  everything  repacked,  re-adjusted,  and  divided  into 
suitable  weights  for  mule-loads.     Then  there  were  a  great 


BAGHDAD  AND  BABYLON.  I93 

many  small  things  to  be  bought,  both  for  the  excavations 
and  also  for  our  own  personal  comfort.  Among  other 
things,  it  was  necessary  to  have  tools  and  baskets  made 
for  the  use  of  the  workmen  in  excavating  at  Nippur. 

It  was  also  desirable  to  ascertain  what  antiquities,  if 
any,  were  in  Baghdad,  and  where  they  came  from.  This 
was  not  an  easy  task,  as  Bedry  watched  us  with  the  eyes 
of  a  lynx,  and  when  he  was  not  himself  in  our  house,  so 
arranged  that  his  man-servant,  Elias,  should  be  there. 
We  were  therefore  under  constant  espionage.  Bedry  was 
said  to  be  in  league  with  the  Daoud  Thoma  ring  of  an- 
tiquity dealers,  and  to  confiscate  antiquities  found  in  the 
possession  of  others.  Consequently  the  dealers  fought 
very  shy,  and  we  found  the  greatest  difficulty  in  opening 
communications  with  them.  Daoud  Thoma  was  Hor- 
muzd  Rassam's  head  man  in  his  excavations,  and  it  is 
publicly  claimed  by  the  British  Museum  officials  that 
tablets  belonging  to  those  excavations  have  been  making 
their  appearance  piecemeal  ever  since.  Certainly,  Daoud 
Thoma  and  his  brothers  have  conducted  a  considerable 
business  in  antiquities  ever  since  Rassam  left  Babylonia, 
purchasing  from  the  Arabs  of  Jimjimeh  and  other  towns, 
who  make  their  living  chiefly  by  digging  in  the  ruin 
mounds;  and  also,  it  is  said,  employing  their  own  paid 
agents  to  dig  at  various  points.  In  addition  to  this, 
Daoud  has  a  large  general  business  in  jManchester  goods 
of  all  sorts,  which  he  imports  and  sells  in  Baghdad. 
Bedry  was  very  intimate  with  him,  and  lived  in  one  of 
his  houses. 

The  stories  regarding  Bedry  current  in  Baghdad  were 
many  and  curious.  He  had  been  sent  out  as  commis- 
sioner to  accompany  ^I.  de  Sarzec  and  M.  Sevelinges  in 
the  excavations  at  Tello.  After  the  close  of  those  exca- 
vations he  had  been  retained  in  Irak,  and  employed  in 
various  capacities  by  the  museum  ;  and  now  he  was  to  be 
our  commissioner.     Munif  Pasha  had  informed  me  that 


194  NIPPUR. 

Bedry  was  his  appointee  and  a  friend  of  his,  and  told  me 
that  I  could  make  arrangements  with  him  to  my  own 
satisfaction.  This  I  understood  to  mean  that  Bedry  was 
there  for  the  purpose  of  being  bribed  to  let  us  have  what 
we  wanted,  and,  in  case  we  did  not  bribe  him,  to  put 
every  possible  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  expedition. 
We  had  information  from  others  whom  Bedry  had 
accompanied  as  commissioner,  which  led  us  to  suppose 
that  we  were  dealing  with  a  very  hard  customer,  who  was 
there  exclusively  for  the  purpose  of  getting  money,  and 
would  sell  us  our  own  antiquities  if  we  would  buy  them; 
and  otherwise  would  sell  them  to  Daoud  Thoma  or  his 
brothers.  It  became  necessary,  therefore,  to  take  every 
precaution  to  render  it  impossible  for  him  to  carry  off 
without  our  knowledge  the  antiquities  found  by  us. 
Bedry  began  by  recommending  to  us  as  workmen  persons 
whom  we  knew  to  be  connected  in  one  way  or  another 
with  Daoud  Thoma,  and  we  naturally  concluded  that  he 
was  attempting  to  impose  upon  our  ignorance,  bringing 
us  into  a  connection  which  would  allow  Daoud  to  rob  our 
trenches.  Those  were  days  of  intrigue,  treachery,  and 
suspicion.  Bedry  suspected  us  of  trying  to  outwit  him 
and  purchase  contraband  antiquities,  and  we  suspected 
him  of  undertaking  to  victimize  us  by  making  us  dig 
antiquities  for  the  benefit  of  his  friends. 

One  day  M.  Pognon  took  us  all  to  see  the  remains  of 
old  Baghdad,  or  Baghdadu.  On  the  Mesopotamian  side 
of  the  river  are  the  remains  of  a  terrace  or  platform  of  an 
old  temple  or  palace.  Two  great  fragments  of  masonry 
jut  out  into  the  river  near  the  upper  bridge.  Beneath, 
for  nine  or  ten  feet  above  the  water,  these  consist  of 
large,  hard-burned  bricks  laid  in  bitumen,  and  stamped 
with  the  stamp  of  Nebuchadrezzar.  Above  is  later  work 
of  the  Arabic  period,  the  bricks  of  which  are  different  in 
shape,  smaller  in  size,  and  not  laid  in  bitumen.  We 
went  to  the  ruin  of  this  old  quay  or  terrace  in  a  very 


The  Tomb  of  Zuhenic,  ilie  1  avoiite  W  iil-  oi   1  iarun-Lr-i\asmii 
at  Baghdad. 


BAGHDAD  AND  BABYLON.  195 

large  kufa,  a  round-bottomed  boat,  or  coracle,  made  of 
wicker-work  covered  with  bitumen.  These  boats  are  still 
a  characteristic  feature  in  Babylonia,  and  they  have  been 
in  use  from  the  earliest  times,  as  is  attested  by  the  ancient 
Assyrian  bas-reliefs.  We  examined  a  number  of  bricks 
with  the  Nebuchadrezzar  stamp  upon  them.  I  am  not 
aware  that  any  other  ruins  of  the  Babylonian  period  have 
been  discovered  in  Baghdad,  but  this  quay  is  quite 
enough  to  show  that  it  was  built  long  before  the  time  of 
the  Arabic  conquest. 

Baghdad  is  mentioned  in  old  inscriptions  as  early  as 
the  year  2000  B.C.  It  bore  at  that  time  the  name  of 
Baghdadu.  It  was  rebuilt  by  Nebuchadrezzar,  as  the 
bricks  in  the  quay  prove.  Later,  it  seems  to  have  fallen 
into  ruins,  and  the  Arab  historians  speak  as  though  the 
city  built  by  Mansur  in  the  year  762  a.d.  was  an  entirely 
new  foundation.  According  to  their  account,  there  was 
at  that  time  nothing  at  the  place,  about  fifteen  miles 
north  of  Ctesiphon,  but  an  old  monastery.  Mansur 
planned  to  make  of  it  a  stronghold  to  control  an  un- 
friendly region,  and  robbed  both  Wasit  and  Madain  to 
strengthen  and  beautify  his  new  fortress.  Under  Man- 
sur's  successors,  and  especially  under  Harun-er-Rashid, 
it  became  the  greatest  and  most  wealthy  city  of  the  day, 
a  centre  of  art  and  literature. 

Outside  of  the  ruins  above  mentioned,  there  is  little  in 
the  way  of  antiquities  to  be  seen  at  Baghdad.  There  are 
a  few  minarets  containing  tiles  of  beautiful  workmanship 
of  the  time  of  the  Abbasside  Caliphs.  The  tomb  of  Zo- 
beide,  the  favorite  wife  of  Harun-er-Rashid,  is  shown 
just  outside  the  city  walls.  This,  with  its  pineapple 
dome,  is  rather  curious  than  beautiful.  As  for  the  old 
walls  of  the  city,  they  are  entirely  ruined.  But  if  there 
is  little  to  be  seen  in  the  way  of  antiquities,  the  town  and 
the  people  are  certainly  sufficiently  curious  and  interest- 
ino;.     It  is  the  unadulterated  Orient,     Amon<T  the  other 


196  NIPPUR. 

curiosities  of  the  place,  at  the  time  of  my  first  stay  in 
Baghdad,  was  a  vile  and  brutal-looking  man  who  insisted 
on  walking  through  the  bazaars  stark  naked.  He  was 
regarded  as  a  holy  man,  inspired  of  God,  on  account  of  his 
insanity  or  eccentricity,  and  the  authorities  did  not 
venture  to  stop  his  exhibition  of  himself. 

The  oddest  sight  among  the  people  is  the  Arab 
women.  The  lower  classes  are  like  those  we  had  seen 
along  the  Euphrates  Valley,  with  tattooed  lips  and  disfig- 
uring nose-rings;  but  the  better  class  of  the  Arab  women 
in  Baghdad  cover  their  faces  carefully  with  heavy,  black 
horse-hair  visors,  which  project  like  enormous  beaks  a 
foot  in  front  of  them.  Their  nether  extremities  are 
incased  in  great,  loose,  yellow  boots,  reaching  to  their 
knees,  and  fully  displayed  by  their  method  of  draping 
the  garments  in  front.  The  men,  even  in  midwinter, 
generally  have  the  breast  exposed,  and  the  women  are 
not  so  particular  about  the  covering  of  the  breast  as  of 
the  head.  The  children  of  the  commoner  classes,  even 
in  January,  ordinarily  wear  but  one  garment,  open  almost 
to  the  waist,  and  not  reaching  below  the  knee. 

Baghdad  is  a  trying  place  in  which  to  reside  during 
midwinter.  It  was  built  for  the  six  months  of  intense 
heat,  and  in  the  damp  cold  of  December  and  January  it 
is  too  much  like  a  great  gloomy  vault.  The  streets 
where  business  is  transacted  are  roofed  over,  so  that  no 
sun  can  penetrate. 

One  of  the  unpleasant  features  of  life  in  Baghdad  is 
the  so-called  Baghdad  date  mark,  the  same  which  is 
known  elsewhere  as  the  Aleppo  button.  This  is  a  boil 
which  attacks  the  face  or  the  extremities.  It  appears  in 
two  forms,  known  to  the  natives  as  male  and  female 
respectively.  The  former  is  a  dry,  scaly  sore;  the  latter, 
a  running,  open  boil.  It  is  not  painful,  but  leaves  ugly 
scars.  The  natives  all  carry  somewhere  on  the  face, 
neck,  hands,  arms,  or  feet  the  scars  of  these  boils,  which 


BAGHDAD  AND  BABYLON.  1 97 

they  have  had  as  children.  European  children  born  in 
the  country  are  apt  to  be  dreadfully  disfigured,  as  in 
their  case  the  boils  invariably  appear  on  the  face ;  and 
whereas  native  children  have,  as  a  rule,  but  one  boil, 
those  born  of  European  parents  are  sure  to  have  several. 
Adult  foreigners  visiting  the  country  are  also  liable  to  be 
attacked;  and  women  rarely  escape  disfigurement,  if  they 
stay  in  the  country  for  any  length  of  time.  The  boil  or 
boils  last  for  about  a  year,  after  which  there  is  no  more 
likelihood  of  a  recurrence  of  the  trouble  than  in  the  case 
of  small-pox.  The  disease  exists  along  the  rivers  Tigris 
and  Euphrates  and  in  the  country  adjacent,  including 
some  places  as  far  from  the  rivers  as  Aleppo ;  but  there 
are  individual  towns  and  regions  which  seem  to  be  ex- 
empt. The  cause  of  the  disease  has  never  been  ascer- 
tained, nor  a  cure  found.  Only  one  of  our  party  was 
ever  afflicted  with  this  trouble,  Haynes,  who  stayed  in 
Baghdad  continuously  for  a  much  longer  time  than  the 
rest  of  us.      Noorian  had  had  the  boil  in  infancy. 

We  made  but  one  trip  of  exploration  while  at  Baghdad. 
Friday,  the  19th,  Haynes,  Field,  Noorian,  and  I,  with 
two  servants,  Hajji  Rework  and  Artin,  went  to  Ctesiphon. 
We  rose  at  three  o'clock,  and  started  at  five.  When  I 
came  to  put  on  my  belt,  I  found  that  my  revolver  had 
been  stolen.  We  never  recovered  it,  although  we  were 
quite  convinced  that  a  young  man  who  had  attended  us 
on  several  occasions,  and  had  been  very  free  in  offers  to 
help  about  the  house,  was  the  one  who  had  appropriated 
it.  American  and  European  firearms  are  contraband  in 
Turkey,  and  their  rarity  enhances  their  value  enormously. 
The  zaptieh  detailed  to  accompany  us  did  not  arrive  at 
the  time  agreed  upon,  and  we  started  Vv'ithout  him.  He 
overtook  us  shortly  after  we  had  crossed  the  river  Di- 
yala,  two  hours  south  of  Baghdad.  Just  before  cross- 
ing that  river,  we  passed  a  ruin  mound  called  Tel  Blegha, 
consisting  chiefly  of  tombs  and  fragments  of  pottery ;  and 


1 98  A'IPPUR. 

shortly  afterwards  we  passed  two  more  ruin  mounds, 
Reshad  and  Hirsum.  Just  afterward  we  crossed  an  old 
canal,  and  passed  a  ruin  mound  known  as  Bed'a.  We 
reached  Ctesiphon  at  half-past  nine. 

The  ruins  of  Ctesiphon  are  of  considerable  extent,  but 
it  was  raining  hard,  and  we  could  see  but  a  few  feet  in 
front  of  us;  so  that  we  examined  carefully  only  the  ruins 
of  Chosroes'  palace,  and  the  mound  to  the  south  of  it,  a 
hundred  paces  or  so  away.  The  arch  of  the  ancient  re- 
ception hall  of  the  palace  is  open  toward  the  east.  It  is 
one  hundred  and  six  feet  in  height,  according  to  Layard, 
and  about  the  same  by  my  count  of  the  layers  of  brick. 
There  are  forty-seven  paces,  or  almost  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet,  from  the  opening  to  the  rear  wall  of  this  hall. 
The  supporting  walls  of  the  arch  are  seven  metres  in 
thickness.  There  is  a  door  in  the  middle  of  the  west  end 
of  the  hall,  and  the  eastern  side  is  entirely  open,  as  al- 
ready stated.  Near  the  opening,  on  both  the  north  and 
south  sides,  are  doors.  The  one  on  the  south  leads 
through  a  vaulted  passage  behind  the  facade,  which  is 
still  standing.  This  facade  is  six  stories  in  height,  and 
the  walls  at  the  bottom  are  six  metres  thick.  The  front 
of  it  was  originally  stuccoed,  as  was  the  interior  of  the 
great  reception  hall.  The  building  back  of  the  facade 
originally  ran  as  far  westward  as  did  the  reception  hall, 
as  is  shown  by  the  remains  of  the  foundation  walls  and 
some  remains  of  superstructures  on  the  south  side.  The 
facade  itself  is  in  the  nature  of  a  false  front,  not  indicat- 
ing truly  the  character  of  the  building  behind  it.  Most 
representations  of  this  palace  of  Chosroes  restore  a  build- 
ing on  the  other  side  of  the  reception  hall,  representing 
the  south  side  to  be  the  same  as  the  north;  but,  although 
I  examined  the  mound  carefully,  I  found  no  present  evi- 
dence of  the  former  existence  of  a  building  on  the  south 
side  similar  to  the  one  on  the  north.  In  front  of  the  great 
reception  room,  eastward,  was  a  mass  of  rubble,  which  led 


i     ^ 


BAGHDAD  AXD  BABYLON.  1 99 

me  to  suppose  that  the  hall  may  once  have  extended  east- 
ward beyond  its  present  point ;  but,  as  I  found  no  founda- 
tion walls,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  rubble  had  fallen 
from  parts  of  the  builiding  which  are  still  standing. 
Noorian  climbed  to  the  top  of  the  arch,  and  found  a 
brick  with  a  piece  of  green  pottery  baked  in  it.  He  also 
found  a  Babylonian  brick  with  an  inscription  of  Nebu- 
chadrezzar :  for  as  at  the  present  day,  so  also  in  the  past, 
it  was  the  custom  of  all  races  in  Babylonia  to  use  older 
material  along  with  the  new  in  their  constructions ;  and 
Babylon  especially  was  the  great  quarry  from  which, 
after  Nebuchadrezzar's  time,  new  builders  derived  their 
material. 

Ctesiphon  became  the  capital  of  the  Parthian  Empire 
about  the  beginning  of  our  era.  After  the  fall  of  the 
Parthian  power,  it  became  the  winter  residence  of  the 
Sassanian-Persian  monarchs.  The  present  visible  ruins 
are  mainly  those  of  the  "  white  palace  "  of  the  famous 
Chosroes.  The  open-arched  hall  was  his  throne-room. 
It  was  presumably  in  this  hall  that  Saad,  the  Arab  gen- 
eral, found  the  wonderful  silk  carpet,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  ells  long  and  sixty  broad,  representing  a  paradise 
or  garden ;  the  flowers,  fruits,  and  shrubs  done  in  gold 
embroidery  and  precious  stones.  The  city  was  so  wealthy 
at  that  time,  that,  out  of  the  spoil,  Saad  is  said  to  have 
distributed  Si  500  to  each  of  his  60,000  soldiers.  Layard, 
in  his  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  says  that  the  plan  of  the 
palace  is  that  of  modern  Persian  houses,  a  great  iwan  or 
open  chamber  for  summer  residence,  flanked  by  sleeping 
and  other  rooms,  forming  separate  stories  to  the  height 
of  the  centre  hall.  Architecturally,  the  building  is  a 
curious  combination  of  Oriental  and  Occidental  motives. 
The  six-story  facade,  while  clumsy  and  barbarous  in  exe- 
cution, is  unmistakably  Greek  by  descent,  while  the 
great  arched  throne-room  is  equally  unmistakably  Asi- 
atic.    And  this  combination  is  generally  characteristic  of 


200  NIPPUR. 

all  the  Parthian  and  Sassanian  remains  which  one  finds 
in  Babylonia. 

Ctesiphon,  or  Madain,  as  the  Arab  writers  call  it,  was 
captured  and  plundered  by  the  Arabs  in  636  or  637  A.D. 
When  el-Mansur  built  Baghdad  in  762  A.D.,  he  used 
Ctesiphon,  and  particularly  the  "  white  palace,"  as  a 
quarry  for  his  new  city,  precisely  as  the  builders  of  Ctesi- 
phon had  used  Babylon  and  the  great  structures  of  Nebu- 
chadrezzar; but  so  colossal  was  Chosroes*  iwan,  and  so 
strongly  built,  that,  after  all  his  attempts  to  demolish  it, 
what  still  remains  is  to-day  the  most  picturesque  and 
effective  ruin  in  all  Babylonia.  It  is  known  either  as 
Takht-i-Khesra  ("  throne  of  Chosroes  ")  or  Tak-i-Khesra 
("  arch  of  Chosroes"). 

Close  to  the  arch  on  the  northeast  is  a  Persian  ziaret 
dedicated  to  Imam  Musa,  and  a  khan  built  out  of  the 
fragments  of  the  ruins.  To  the  southeast  a  large  piece  of 
the  city  wall  is  still  standing.  Close  to  the  palace  to  the 
south  is  a  large,  low  mound,  which  doubtless  covers  some 
of  the  buildings  of  the  ancient  city.  Owing  to  the  rain, 
our  photographs  of  Ctesiphon  were  almost  entirely 
failures. 

Across  the  Tigris  from  Ctesiphon  stood  the  city  of 
Seleucia,  built  by  Seleucus  Nicator  at  the  close  of  the 
fourth  century  B.C.,  as  the  capital  of  the  new  Greek  em- 
pire. The  mounds  which  mark  the  site  of  this  city  stand 
out  quite  prominently,  but  did  not  seem  to  be  as  exten- 
sive as  those  of  Ctesiphon.  The  city  itself,  even  after  the 
Parthian  conquest,  is  said  to  have  been  larger  and 
wealthier  than  its  rival  across  the  river.  Pliny  reports  it 
as  having  a  population  of  600,000  in  his  time.  The  Par- 
thian monarchs  allowed  it  to  exist  side  by  side  with  their 
capital,  Ctesiphon,  and  to  retain  its  independence  and  its 
own  republican  form  of  government ;  and,  though  having 
a  large  Syrian  and  Jewish  population  (the  latter  until  the 
Greeks  and  Syrians  united  in   falling  upon  the  unfortu- 


BAGHDAD  AND  BABYLON.  20r 

nate  Jews  and  driving  them  out),  it  maintained  its  Greek 
character  until  taken  and  sacked  in  a  Roman  invasion  in 
the  time  of  Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus.  On  its  ruins, 
Ardeshir;  or  Artaxerxes,  the  founder  of  the  Sassanian 
dynasty,  erected  the  town  of  Veh  Ardeshir  as  a  suburb 
of  Ctesiphon  across  the  river. 

One  afternoon  Bedry  and  I  undertook  a  ride  about  the 
walls  of  the  city,  but  Bedry 's  horse  ran  away  just  outside 
the  gate  and  threw  him.  I  found  him  sitting  on  a  tomb 
badly  shaken  up.  His  horse  was  recaptured,  and  he 
mounted,  only  to  be  thrown  again,  this  time  on  his  head. 
That  ended  my  explorations  under  his  guidance.  The 
next  day  he  sold  his  horse. 

The  old  walls,  as  I  have  already  stated,  are  now  almost 
entirely  destroyed.  They  had  been  allowed  to  go  to  ruin, 
and  were  crumbling  away  long  since.  One  pasha  sold 
them  as  bricks,  in  a  time  of  distress.  Midhat  Pasha 
caused  a  great  part  of  the  remainder  to  be  torn  down 
with  the  view  of  extending  the  town  and  turning  the 
ancient  wall  into  a  park,  as  has  been  done  in  so  many 
German  cities.  As  is  usual  in  Turkey,  the  work  was 
begun  and  never  finished.  On  the  northern  side  of  the 
city  an  old  gate  is  still  standing.  Near  this  is  the  oldest 
minaret,  dating  from  the  time  of  the  Caliphs.  It  is  in 
the  form  of  a  cone. 

Above  and  below  Baghdad,  on  both  sides  of  the  Tigris, 
are  gardens  of  palm-trees,  pomegranates,  oranges,  lemons, 
and  the  like.  Underneath  the  palm-trees  they  grow 
wheat.  The  gardens  and  cultivated  land  extend  but  a 
very  short  distance  back  of  the  river  on  both  sides.  A 
few  miles  up  the  river  is  el-Kathim,  or  Kathemain,  where 
there  is  a  sacred  mosque  of  Imam  Musa,  an  object  of  pil- 
grimage to  pious  Shiites.  This  mosque  is  very  gorgeous. 
The  two  domes,  four  minarets,  and  a  part  of  the  facade 
of  the  mosque,  are  overlaid  with  gold.  It  is  the  most 
resplendent  thing  I  ever  saw ;  and  from  whatever  direc- 


202  A'IPPUR. 

tion  the  traveller  approaches  Baghdad,  the  glittering 
domes  and  minarets  of  Kathim  are  the  first  objects  which 
meet  the  eye.  The  people  of  the  place  are  very  fanat 
ical,  and  will  not  allow  Christians  even  to  approach  closely 
the  door  of  the  outer  court  of  the  mosque.  Not  knowing 
this,  I  rode  up  to  the  gate  in  order  to  look  in.  Forth- 
with every  one  dropped  his  wares  and  his  bartering,  and 
rushed  at  me  with  cries  and  threats  to  drive  me  from  the 
sacred  precincts.  To  obtain  a  good  view  of  the  mosque, 
it  is  necessary  to  secure  admittance  through  friends  to 
some  of  the  houses  in  the  neighborhood,  from  the  roof  of 
which  one  can  unmolested  study  the  shrine  of  Imam 
]\Iusa. 

It  was  Monday,  the  21st,  two  weeks  after  our  arriv^al  at 
Baghdad,  that  Mustafa  Assim  Pasha's  toothache  van- 
ished, and  he  was  finally  able  to  receive  us  and  attend  to 
our  business.  We  were  presented  by  Major  Talbot,  the 
British  Resident.  The  hour  of  audience  was  between 
nine  and  ten  A.M.  By  JNIajor  Talbot's  directions,  I 
mounted  five  members  of  the  expedition  on  horseback, 
with  a  servant  at  each  man's  bridle-rein.  Major  Talbot 
came  with  quite  an  escort  to  take  us  to  the  palace,  and  our 
procession  through  the  streets  formed  a  pageant  as  inter- 
esting to  the  natives  of  Baghdad  as  Barnum's  circus  is  to 
the  citizens  of  our  towns.  On  the  whole,  it  was  more 
exciting,  for  the  streets  are  extremely  narrow,  and  the 
soldiers  at  the  head  of  our  column  had  actually  to  beat 
the  people  out  of  our  way,  while  our  wild  stallions  occa- 
sionally made  frantic  plunges,  which  endangered  the 
goods  of  the  merchants  in  the  bazaars.  Our  advance 
guard  consisted  of  two  mounted  cawasses  on  caracoling 
horses.  Their  duty  was  to  clear  a  passage,  driving  foot- 
passengers  to  one  side,  and  obliging  mules  and  camels  to 
dive  down  by-ways  and  alleys.  Next  followed  Major 
Talbot  on  horseback  with  a  Sepoy  at  his  bridle-rein; 
then  five  of  us.  each  mounted,  and  each  with  a  servant  at 


BAGHDAD  AND  BABYLON.  203 

his  bridle-rein.  Last  came  the  dragoman  of  the  British 
Residency,  mounted  and  attended  in  the  same  manner. 
As  we  entered  the  gate  of  the  serai,  a  squadron  of  sol- 
diers presented  arms,  and  the  same  was  done  at  every 
turn.  Outside  the  door  of  the  reception-room  the  Wall 
Pasha,  Mustafa  Assim  (a  fine-looking  man  in  military 
uniform),  met  us,  and  ushered  us  into  the  divan.  INIajor 
Talbot  had  told  me  beforehand  to  do  without  question 
whatever  he  indicated,  whether  it  seemed  to  me  proper 
or  not,  and  I  had  agreed  to  do  so.  The  Wali  received 
Major  Talbot  as  a  person  of  high  distinction,  led  him  to 
the  head  of  the  divan,  and  offered  him  the  seat  of  honor 
by  his  side.  But  Major  Talbot  drew  back,  and  motioned 
to  me  to  take  that  place.  It  was  the  most  graceful  act  of 
diplomatic  courtesy  that  could  have  been  imagined.  It 
was  intended  to  make  the  Wali  treat  me  as  a  person  of 
great  importance,  and  technically  placed  me  above  the 
British  Resident  himself,  if  that  were  possible.  The 
effect  of  it  was  that  from  that  time  forward  the  Wali 
treated  me  with  a  respect  that  could  have  been  obtained 
in  no  other  way.  I  am  glad  to  say  that  the  valuable 
assistance  rendered  to  the  expedition  by  Major  Talbot 
on  this  and  other  occasions,  was  later  recognized  by  our 
Government,  which  addressed  a  communication  to  the 
British  authorities,  thanking  them  for  the  courtesies 
extended  to  us  by  their  representative  in  Baghdad. 

Our  interview  with  the  Wali  lasted  half  an  hour.  We 
drank  coffee,  smoked  cigarettes,  and  transacted  our  busi- 
ness in  French.  The  Governor-General  told  us  that  we 
were  going  to  the  most  dangerous  part  of  his  vilayet,  but 
that  he  would  use  every  possible  means  to  protect  us, 
and  that  a  battalion  of  soldiers  stationed  at  Diwanieh 
should  be  at  our  disposal.  I  asked  him  to  waive  the 
question  of  a  topographical  plan,  required  by  our  permit, 
allowing  us  to  commence  excavations  at  Nippur  without 
one,  and  make  one  at  our  earliest  convenience  afterward. 


204  NIPP  UP. 

To  this  he  declined  to  consent.  He  did  not  speak  in 
favorable  terms  of  our  commissioner,  Bedry  Bey,  whom 
he  distrusted,  as  every  one  else  seemed  to  do.  Indeed, 
he  told  us  frankly  that  Bedry  drank  too  much.  We  had 
already  been  told  the  same  by  a  German  expedition 
■which  Bedry  had  accompanied  as  commissioner,  and 
informed  further  that  the  only  way  to  handle  him  was  to 
keep  him  drunk,  feed  him  well,  and,  having  thus  concili- 
ated him,  secure  what  was  wanted  by  bribery.  Other- 
wise, we  were  assured,  he  would  make  us  trouble,  and 
the  objects  discovered  would  not  reach  the  Imperial 
Museum,  after  all.  Poor  Bedry  was  painted  much  blacker 
than  he  was,  as  I  found  out  later  by  experience.  The 
Wali  gave  us  permission  to  start  for  Nippur  on  Wednes- 
day morning,  the  23d;  then  Bedry  was  sent  for,  and  we 
were  ofificially  put  in  communication  with  him;  being 
left,  however,  to  settle  between  ourselves  our  financial 
relations, — a  very  unfortunate  and  unbusiness-like  ar- 
rangement. 

On  our  return  from  this  interview,  our  house  became 
instantly  a  scene  of  bustle  and  confusion.  Mule-loads 
were  made  up  for  fifty  odd  mules,  muleteers  were  con- 
tracted with  to  take  us  to  Nippur,  and  every  one  was 
busied  getting  things  into  working  order.  That  same 
evening  I  called  on  Bedry  to  arrange  money  matters  with 
him,  but  found  him  sick  in  bed.  My  own  comrades  were 
not  in  much  better  condition.  After  the  hard  month's 
march  from  the  coast  to  Baghdad,  they  were  naturally 
worn  out,  and  the  life  of  relaxation  and  irregularity  in 
Baghdad  did  not  tend  to  improve  their  condition.  Prince 
broke  down  altogether,  and  by  the  advice  of  Dr.  Bow- 
man, the  military  physician  connected  with  the  British 
Residency,  resigned  from  the  expedition.  Major  and 
Mrs.  Talbot  kindly  took  him  into  their  own  house,  and 
nursed  him  there  until  he  was  able  to  return  home. 

We  were  to  have  started  at  a  very  early  hour  on  Wed- 


BAGHDAD  AXD  BABYLON.  20$ 

nesday  morning,  January  23d.  At  five  o'clock  our  mu- 
leteers came  to  say  that  it  was  raining,  and  asked  us 
whether  we  proposed  to  start  in  the  rain.  We  told  them 
that  we  did,  and  that  the  rain  would  make  no  difference 
with  us.  At  half-past  six  they  returned  to  give  us  the 
same  information,  and  ask  the  same  question,  and  it  was 
nine  o'clock  before  they  were  ready  to  start,  and  ten 
o'clock  before  we  finally  got  in  motion.  Our  caravan 
consisted  of  sixty-one  horses  and  mules,  with  men  and 
donkeys  besides,  and  we  were  escorted  by  six  zaptiehs  on 
mules,  and  by  Bedry  Bey  and  his  servant,  so  that  alto- 
gether we  made  a  very  formidable  party.  It  rained  hard 
most  of  the  day,  and  there  was  a  bitter  wind  from  the 
south.  I  have  rarely  suffered  more  from  the  cold;  and, 
owing  both  to  the  cold  and  the  rain,  it  was  utterly  impos- 
sible to  write  notes,  or  even  to  make  careful  observations 
of  our  course.  We  travelled  almost  due  south,  reaching 
Khan  Mahmudieh  at  four  o'clock.  On  the  way  we  passed 
many  low  mounds  and  old  canal  beds,  but  little  of  inter- 
est. The  khan  in  which  we  stayed  at  Mahmudieh  was  by 
far  the  largest  and  best  appointed  I  had  yet  seen,  lying 
on  the  line  of  travel  of  the  Persian  pilgrims  to  Kerbela. 
These  khans  are  rectangular  structures,  with  blank  walls 
on  the  outside,  pierced  by  a  large  gate  on  one  side  only. 
Over  this  gate  there  is  frequently  an  upper  room  with 
window  openings.  In  the  interior  of  the  khan  is  a  large 
space  open  to  the  sky,  in  which  there  are  sometimes  one 
or  two  raised  platforms.  In  the  khans  on  the  pilgrim 
routes,  these  platforms  are  provided  with  praying-places 
properly  orientated  toward  Mecca.  Around  the  great 
open  court  are  booth-like  places  for  guests,  raised  three 
or  four  feet  above  the  ground;  and  if  the  khan  is  a  large 
one,  there  is  a  second,  and  some  times  a  third,  row  of 
these  booths  opening  on  a  covered  corridor  within. 
Guests,  as  they  arrive,  take  possession  of  any  of  the  booths 
which  they  find  empty,   string  rugs  across  the  opening, 


206  NIPPUR. 

and  encamp  for  the  night.  Their  animals  stand  below  in 
the  corridor  or  court.  Below  the  booths  are  mangers 
and  tethering-places.  There  is  no  rent,  but  one  gives 
the  khanjee  at  the  door  a  backsheesh  in  the  morning. 
Many  of  the  khans  are  pious  foundations. 

The  next  morning  all  of  us,  excepting  Haynes  and 
Bedry,  started  to  visit  Abu  Habba,  guided  by  the  chief 
man  of  the  village,  and  escorted  by  two  of  our  own  zap- 
tiehs,  together  with  a  zaptieh  named  Abbas,  who  had 
been  about  a  month  with  the  Wolfe  Expedition  on  its 
trip  south  of  Hillah.  He  had  married  a  wife  out  of  the 
proceeds  of  that  journey,  and  now  prayed  for  his  bene- 
factors each  time  he  saw  her,  so  he  told  us.  The  day  was 
rainy,  and  the  guide  professed  to  lose  his  way ;  but,  as  one 
of  Daoud  Thoma's  brothers  was  in  charge  of  Abu  Habba 
at  that  time,  we  suspected  that  by  his  instructions  the 
man  was  trying  to  prevent  us  from  reaching  the  place. 
We  finally  found  our  way  by  means  of  a  map  and  com- 
pass. We  examined  the  excavations  at  Abu  Habba  with 
some  care,  but  saw  no  evidence  of  the  private  digging" 
which  we  had  suspected  was  being  conducted  there. 

Abu  Habba  represents  the  ruins  of  ancient  Sippara, 
supposed  to  be  the  Sepharvaim  of  the  Bible  (2  Kings, 
xvii.,  31).  Hormuzd  Rassam's  excavations  at  this  point 
produced  most  remarkable  results,  the  inscriptions  found 
exceeding  in  number  and  antiquity  those  found  up  to 
that  time  at  any  other  site  in  Babylonia.  His  excava- 
tions, as  we  saw,  were  conducted  in  a  very  unscientific 
manner,  without  much  regard  to  buildings  or  strata;  but 
certainly  he  was  successful  in  the  one  thing  at  which  he 
aimed, — the  discovery  of  inscriptions.  At  the  time  of  our 
visit  the  mounds  were  the  private  property  of  the  Sultan. 
Since  our  visit  two  campaigns  of  excavation  have  been 
conducted  there  by  the  Turks,  but  without  the  success 
which  attended  Rassam's  work  for  the  British  Museum. 
There  are  several  mounds  in  the  neighborhood  of  Abu. 


BAGHDAD  AND  BABYLON.  20J 

Habba,  the  most  important  of  which  is  Deir,  and  many 
large  dry  canals,  including  one  triple  one  called  Yusuffieh. 
It  was  almost  half-past  eleven  when  we  left  Abu  Habba, 
and,  after  watering  our  horses  at  the  neighboring  ziaret  of 
Seid  Abdullah,  we  directed  our  course  toward  the  con- 
spicuous mound  of  Hushm-edh-Dhib.  This  appeared  to 
be  at  the  intersection  of  a  network  of  canals,  and  I  pre- 
sume that  it  represents  the  remains  of  the  fortress  and 
station  for  the  control  and  protection  of  those  canals.  It 
was  one  o'clock  when  we  reached  the  Hillah  road,  close 
to  the  ruined  khan  of  Bir.  Some  distance  away  we 
could  see  the  castle-like  ruins  of  Sheyshubar.  Three 
quarters  of  an  hour  later  we  crossed  a  large,  dry,  triple 
canal,  which  from  that  point  on  to  the  end  of  our  day's 
journey  ran  parallel  to  our  road  ;  and  throughout  the  whole 
day  we  were  constantly  passing  smaller  canals  and  ruin 
mounds  covered  with  pottery.  Just  beyond  the  triple 
canal  the  pilgrim  road  to  Kerbela  and  Nejef  branched  off 
from  ours.  An  hour  later  we  passed  Khan  Haswa,  by 
which  there  is  a  very  small  village  of  the  same  name, 
both  located  on  the  edge  of  pebble  hills  like  those  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Kal'at  Feluja.  These  pebble  hills  are  a 
spur  of  the  Mesopotamian  plateau  projecting  into  the 
alluvium,  but  I  believe  that  they  are  not  continuous  from 
Kal'at  Feluja  to  Haswa.  Beyond  Haswa,  for  a  long  dis- 
tance, the  ground  was  covered  with  fragments  of  pottery. 
Then  came  a  sort  of  dry  marsh.  At  about  quarter-past 
three  we  came  in  sight  of  a  fringe  of  palms,  indicating 
the  position  of  the  river  Euphrates  a  few  miles  away  to 
our  right.  A  little  later  we  passed  a  low  mound  covered 
with  pottery ;  and  a  few  minutes  afterwards  we  noticed 
on  both  sides  of  us  fields  of  pottery  and  bricks,  with 
small  heaps  of  what  looked  like  iron  slag.  Everything 
indicated  the  former  existence  of  phenomenal  wealth  and 
prosperity  where  now  there  is  an  utterly  barren  and 
uninhabited  desert.     This  recjion  was  once  known  as  Gan 


208  NIPPUR. 

Eden,  or  Garden  of  Delight;  and  it  was  its  amazing  fer- 
tility in  ancient  times  which  gave  the  local  color  to  the 
Hebrew  legend  of  Gan  Eden,  the  Garden  of  Eden. 

About  four  o'clock  we  passed  another  great  canal  cen- 
tre, and  the  remains  of  something  that  looked  like  an 
ancient  reservoir.  At  quarter-past  four,  at  the  deserted 
Khan  Nasrieh,  we  passed  another  great  canal  ganglion. 
At  about  quarter-past  five,  on  a  rude  bridge  of  modern 
construction,  we  crossed  a  canal  full  of  water,  hollowed 
out  in  one  of  the  channels  of  a  large  ancient  triple  canal; 
and  five  minutes  later  we  reached  Khan  Mahawil,  where 
Haynes  and  the  caravan  had  been  awaiting  us  some 
hours. 

The  next  morning  we  were  up  at  six  o'clock,  and 
started  ahead  of  the  caravan  with  the  intention  of  visiting 
Babylon.  Our  course  was  almost  due  south  on  the  Hil- 
lah  road.  Shortly  after  starting,  we  crossed  the  largest 
triple  canal  I  had  yet  seen,  now  called  Nahr  IMahawil. 
Five  minutes  later  we  passed  a  small  mound  covered  with 
pottery,  and  five  minutes  after  that  another.  Twenty 
minutes  later  we  were  passing  over  the  low  mounds  of  Tel 
Kreni,  which  are  quite  extensive.  A  few  minutes  after 
ten,  after  crossing  the  deep  bed  of  the  Shatt-en-Nil, 
which,  in  connection  with  the  Euphrates,  once  formed  a 
moat  for  Babylon,  we  crossed  the  line  of  the  old  wall 
about  Babil.  Like  the  mound  itself,  this  wall  has  been 
used  as  a  brick  mine  for  all  the  surrounding  country.  An 
excavation  of  thirty  feet  in  depth  showed  that  it  was  built 
of  bricks  laid  in  bitumen.  This  particular  excavation  was 
made,  I  believe,  with  a  view  of  obtaining  material  for  a 
dam  on  the  Hindieh  Canal.  Bedry  informed  us  that  ex- 
cavation in  the  mounds  of  Babylon  for  such  purposes  is 
now  forbidden;  but  either  Bedry  was  mistaken  as  to  the 
fact,  or  else  the  prohibition  is  utterly  disregarded. 

The  mound  of  Babil  itself  is  thoroughly  honeycombed 
with  excavations.      So  far  as  those  excavations  reveal  the 


BAGHDAD  AA'D  BABYLON.  209 

character  of  the  structure,  it  is  one  huge  mass  of  burned 
brick.  It  was  not,  however,  built  entirely  at  one  time. 
In  one  place  I  observed  well-made  columns  of  bricks,  the 
spaces  between  which  had  been  built  up  later,  thus  turn- 
ing a  construction  resting  upon  piers  into  a  solid  mass. 
In  another  place  I  noticed  a  doorway  which  had  been 
filled  with  rubble  brick,  after  which  a  solid  structure  cf 
brick  had  been  erected  in  front  of  it.  The  removal  of  a 
part  of  the  structure  by  brick-miners  had  revealed  the 
walled-up  door  within.  Bitumen  was  used  as  mortar  in  a 
portion,  at  least,  of  these  brick  structures;  and  the  im- 
pressions in  the  bitumen  showed  that  sometimes  mats 
had  been  placed  between  the  layers  of  brick.  On  top  of 
the  masses  of  baked  brick  was  a  mass  of  unbaked  brick, 
about  thirty  feet  of  which  I  found  in  place.  Between 
the  layers  of  the  unbaked  bricks  were  thin  mats,  such  as 
are  now  in  use  in  that  country,  quite  unlike  the  heavy 
mats  I  had  observed  at  'Akerkuf.  There  were  also  ropes 
or  cords  of  reeds  running  through  the  bricks,  as  at  'Aker- 
kuf, excepting  only  that  those  used  at  Babil  were  smaller. 
There  were  also  occasionally  palm  beams  thrust  in  among 
the  unbaked  bricks  to  strengthen  the  construction.  Near 
the  doorway,  which  I  have  described  above,  Hilprecht 
picked  up  a  brick  of  Nabopolassar.  All  of  the  other 
bricks  which  we  found  here,  and  all  that  I  have  found 
elsewhere,  brought  from  Babil,  bear  the  name  of  Nebu- 
chadrezzar. The  mound  is  orientated  approximately 
northeast  and  southwest,  so  that  its  corners  point  toward 
the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass.  It  is  much  longer 
from  the  northeast  to  the  southwest  than  from  the  south- 
east to  the  northwest.  In  the  diggings  on  the  mound,  as 
well  as  on  the  surface,  I  found  fragments  of  green  glazed 
pottery,  sometimes  imbedded  in  bricks.  Toward  the 
northern  end  of  the  mound,  on  its  summit,  was  a  wall  of 
the  same  sort  of  gypsum  composite  rock  which  underlies 
the  pebble  hills  at  Haswa  and  Feluja,  surrounded  again 


2IO  NIPPUR. 

by  bricks.  There  were  everywhere  fragments  of  enam- 
elled bricks,  and  these  looked  as  though  they  had  been 
exposed  to  the  action  of  fire  in  a  great  conflagration.  It 
is  said  that  little  or  nothing  in  the  way  of  antiquities  has 
been  found  at  Babil.  While  we  were  there,  a  lad  brought 
us  the  trunk  of  a  small  alabaster  statuette  of  late  Greek 
work,  which  he  claimed  to  have  found  on  the  spot. 
Bedry  beat  him,  and  confiscated  the  statuette,  which  he 
later  presented  to  me. 

South  ten  degrees  east  of  Babil  is  the  mound  of  Ho- 
meira,  constituting  a  portion  of  the  ancient  ruins  of 
Babylon.  Near  this,  and  around  a  bend  in  the  river 
from  Babil,  lies  a  complex  of  mounds,  known  in  its  sev- 
eral parts  as  Kasra,  Amram,  and  Jimjimeh.  Between 
Babil  and  this  complex  of  mounds  lie  the  low  but  quite 
extensive  mounds  of  Mujellibeh.  All  these  are  parts  of 
Babylon.  In  the  mound  of  Kasra,  in  a  deep  hole,  lies  a 
rude  lion  carved  in  black  basalt.  The  lion  is  struggling 
with  a  serpent.  This  hole  was  dug  and  the  lion  un- 
earthed by  Rich  in  i8ii.  The  Arabs  have  since  bored  a 
hole  partly  through  the  lion  in  their  search  for  treasure. 
Not  very  far  away,  growing  on  the  mound  itself,  is  a 
very  large  old  sidra-tree,  known  by  the  name  of  Athele. 
Local  tradition  says  that  this  is  the  tree  under  which 
Nebuchadrezzar  took  shelter  when  he  ate  grass  like  an 
ox;  and  the  same  tradition  attached  itself  to  the  same 
tree,  even  then  fabulously  old,  in  Rich's  day. 

It  is  the  mound  of  Amram,  or  Jimjimeh,  which  is  the 
most  fruitful  in  antiquities;  and  it  is  here  that  almost  all 
of  the  clay  tablets  and  cylinders  have  been  found  which 
have  reached  Europe  and  America.  We  had  heard  in 
Baghdad  that  a  library  had  been  found  in  place  at  Jimji- 
meh by  the  Arabs,  and  afterwards  broken  up  by  them  in 
their  endeavor  to  escape  arrest  by  the  authorities.  We 
were  shown  the  place  where  this  remarkable  find  was 
made.      It  was  merely  a  hole  in  the  mound,  and  nothing 


BAGHDAD  AND  BABYLON.  211 

showed  in  what  sort  of  a  building,  if  any,  it  had  been 
found.  Afterwards  Hilprecht  was  shown  by  the  officials 
such  of  the  "  finds  "  seized  by  the  Turks  as  still  remained. 
On  investigation,  it  turned  out  that  the  so-called  library 
was  a  cache,  or  deposit  of  contract  tablets ;  and  that  the 
breaking-up  of  the  tablets  was  due  to  the  Turkish  au- 
thorities, who  seized  them,  and  threw  them  into  bags  to 
carry  them  to  Hillah.  What  remained  was  absolutely 
valueless.  In  our  presence  the  Arabs  of  Jimjimeh  bur- 
rowed with  their  hands  among  the  graves  which  now 
cover  the  mound,  and  brought  out  a  few  fragments  of 
tablets,  one  or  two  of  which  contained  written  characters. 
The  mounds  near  Jimjimeh  are  almost  entirely  covered 
with  graves,  but  the  natives  make  nothing  of  disturbing 
these  in  digging  for  tablets.  The  principal  mound  at 
this  point  is  known  as  Amram,  from  the  tomb  and  ziaret 
of  Amram,  son  of  AH,  which  stand  there.  At  the  present 
moment  these  mounds  look  almost  like  a  rabbit  warren, 
they  are  so  full  of  holes  made  by  the  Arabs  in  their 
diggings.  North  of  Jimjimeh,  some  deep  excavations 
had  been  made  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  bricks  for 
the  Hindieh  dam.  These  excavations  revealed  enormous 
walls  or  masses  of  very  large  bricks  laid  in  bitumen. 
The  village  of  Jimjimeh  lies  at  the  foot  of  the  mounds 
toward  the  Euphrates,  and  I  believe  that  almost  every 
native  of  that  place  is  an  antiquity  ferret.  On  a  later 
visit  to  Babylon  I  was  shown,  by  the  man  who  discovered 
it,  the  place  where  the  famous  cylinder  of  Cyrus  was 
found.  This  was  on  the  mound  of  Amram,  but  not  in 
the  corner  of  a  building.  It  was  in  a  sort  of  niche  in  the 
face  of  a  long  wall.  Bedry  assured  us  that  through  his 
activity  antiquity  digging  had  been  entirely  stopped, 
both  at  Babylon  and  elsewhere.  This  was  somewhat 
amusing,  in  view  of  the  collections  we  had  just  been 
purchasing  in  Baghdad  and  London,  which  had  come 
principally  from  Jimjimeh,  but  partly  from  Birs  Nimrud. 


212  NIPPUR. 

Much  has  been  written  about  the  ruins  of  Babylon. 
They  have  been  thoroughly  mapped,  and  not  a  few 
scholars  have  tried  their  hands  at  a  restoration  of  the 
ancient  city  on  the  basis  of  their  understanding  of  the 
indications  of  the  mounds.  I  do  not  think  that  any  rep- 
resentation of  the  ancient  city  can  be  of  much  value  until 
systematic  and  scientific  excavations  have  been  con- 
ducted there. 

The  mound  of  Babil  is  now  generally  supposed  to 
represent  the  hanging  gardens  of  Nebuchadrezzar,  The 
description  which  I  have  given  of  the  appearance  of  that 
ruin,  as  revealed  by  excavations  conducted  there,  may 
suggest  that  it  was  originally  a  lofty  structure  resting  on 
piers  and  columns,  at  least  in  part.  This  would  accord 
with  the  ordinary  idea  regarding  these  hanging  gardens. 
It  was  afterwards,  for  some  reason,  built  into  a  solid 
mass.  Some  suppose,  however,  that  Babil  represents  the 
ziggurat  of  the  temple  of  Bel-^Ierodach.  If  so,  that 
ziggurat  must  have  been  of  a  construction  entirely  unlike 
any  other  ziggurat  which  has  yet  been  unearthed. 

It  was  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  when  we 
reached  Hillah.  The  caravan  remained  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river  to  avoid  the  bridge  tolls ;  but  we  crossed  the 
bridge  of  boats,  as  our  khan,  a  miserable  place  (said  to 
be  the  best  in  Hillah,  however)  was  on  the  western  side 
of  the  river.  There  was  no  accommodation  for  our 
horses,  which  had  to  be  sent  elsewhere.  Reshid  Bey, 
•colonel  of  the  regiment  which  is  stationed  partly  at  Hil- 
lah and  partly  at  Diwanieh,  and  a  friend  of  Bedry,  came 
to  see  us  at  once,  and  invited  us  to  stay  with  him.  This 
I  declined  to  do,  but  accepted  an  invitation  to  dine  on 
the  following  evening.  I  had  left  Noorian  at  Jimjimeh 
to  see  about  engaging  workmen  to  accompany  us  to  Nip- 
pur. He  reached  the  khan  about  seven  in  the  evening, 
rather  down  in  the  mouth,  and  afraid  that  he  could  find 
no  workmen  who  were  not  under  the  thumb  of  Daoud 


BAGHDAD   AXD   BABYLOX.  213 

Thoma  and  Bedry  Bey.  He  had,  however,  arranged 
with  some  men  to  come  and  see  him  the  next  day,  and 
talk  the  question  of  employment  over  further. 

The  next  morning,  leaving  Haynes,  who  was  feeling 
very  miserable,  to  rest,  and  Noorian  to  hunt  up  antiqui- 
ties and  information,  the  rest  of  us,  with  Elias,  Bedry's 
servant,  an  Arab  guide,  and  two  zaptiehs,  started  for  Birs 
Nimrud  at  half-past  eight,  reaching  there  about  ten. 
The  country  between  Birs  Nimrud  on  the  one  side,  and 
Hillah  and  Mahmudieh,  or  rather  Baghdad,  on  the  other, 
is  capable  of  almost  boundless  productivity,  but  is  now  a 
complete  desert.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Hillah,  and 
down  the  course  of  the  Euphrates,  land  which  was  culti- 
vated a  few  years  earlier  was  at  the  time  of  my  visit  lying 
waste ;  and  the  very  palm-trees,  which  line  the  river  for 
miles  at  this  point,  were  dying  on  account  of  the  failing 
of  the  waters.  The  Euphrates  had  been  for  some  years 
flowing  more  and  more  into  the  Hindieh  Canal,  and  thence 
into  the  Abu  Nejm  and  other  great  swamps.  They  told  me 
that  five  years  before,  the  revenues  of  the  Mutessariflik, 
or  province  of  Hillah,  were  eighty-five  thousand  Turkish 
liras,  but  in  1889  they  were  only  ten  thousand.  This 
difficulty  with  the  Hindieh  Canal  is  an  almost  periodical 
one.  From  the  remotest  antiquity  the  Euphrates  has 
broken  down  all  dams  and  dispersed  itself  through  the 
Hindieh  into  the  great  swamps,  at  uncertain  intervals, 
depending  upon  the  strength  of  the  dam  and  the  watch- 
fulness of  the  government.  But  in  addition  to  the  dimi- 
nution of  the  revenues  of  the  Mutessariflik  of  Hillah 
owing  to  the  diversion  of  the  Euphrates,  there  was  also  a 
diminution  caused  by  the  fact  that  each  year  more  of  the 
cultivable  and  cultivated  land  becomes  the  property  of 
the  Sultan,  and  is  hence  removed  from  taxation. 

The  appearance  of  the  mound  of  Birs  Nimrud  is  well 
known,  for  it  has  been  often  described  and  depicted. 
It  is  orientated  so  that  the  corners  point  approximately 


214  NIPPUR. 

towards  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass.  The  remains  of 
the  tower  proper  are  toward  the  southwestern  edge  of  the 
ruins,  and  not,  as  at  Nippur,  the  northwestern.  To  the 
northeast  of  the  ziggurat  are  the  remains  of  rooms  and 
chambers  which  formed,  apparently,  part  of  the  great 
temple  of  Nebuchadrezzar,  of  which  the  tower  was  the 
ziggurat,  or  high  place.  A  good  many  of  these  rooms 
were  dug  out  by  Rassam,  but  nothing  of  any  importance 
was  found  in  them.  The  walls  of  the  rooms  which  were 
excavated,  and  which  still  remain  as  left  by  the  explorers, 
were  built  entirely  of  sun-dried  brick.  Rawlinson  and 
the  French  both  excavated  here  at  an  earlier  date.  Both 
dug  in  the  tower  of  the  ziggurat  itself,  and  in  the  corners 
of  that  building  Rawlinson  found  inscribed  cylinders  of 
Nebuchadrezzar.  On  the  east  side  of  the  tower  we  were 
shown  the  excavations  said  to  have  been  made  by  the 
French,  where  they  had  laid  bare  vast  masses  of  baked 
red  bricks.  The  lowest  stage  of  the  tower,  as  shown  by 
these  excavations,  consisted  of  a  very  high  terrace  of  sun- 
dried  bricks,  on  which  were  smaller  terraces  faced  with 
baked  brick.  On  the  summit  of  the  whole  structure  there 
is  now  a  curious  mass  of  baked  bricks,  looking  like  a  tower 
split  in  two.  This  is  somewhat  more  than  forty  feet  in 
height,  as  measured  by  the  layers  of  bricks,  of  which 
there  are  "one  hundred  and  thirty  still  in  place.  It  is 
pierced  by  holes  in  which  there  were  originally  cords  or 
beams  to  strengthen  the  masonry.  About  this  tower  lie 
huge  masses  of  bricks  fused  together.  Apparenth'  this 
fusion  was  the  result  of  a  conflagration,  the  heat  of  which 
was  sufficiently  great  to  melt  the  enamel  on  the  bricks. 
The  bricks  themselves  were  twisted,  curled,  and  broken 
by  the  heat.  Enamelled  bricks  ruined  by  fire  were  found 
all  around  the  mound,  a  few  of  them  of  a  dark-red  color, 
but  most  of  them  yellow,  and  some  of  them  almost  black. 
Some  of  these,  as  well  as  some  of  the  unenamelled  bricks, 
bore  the  inscription  of  the  great  Nebuchadrezzar. 


V  ;., 


BAGHDAD  AXD  BABYLOX. 


215 


The  view  from  the  top  of  the  mound  was  very  beauti- 
ful. To  the  north  was  a  great  swamp  full  of  water,  from 
Avhich  ran  a  stream,  looking  like  a  silver  thread,  connect- 
ing it  with  the  Hindieh  Canal.  Beyond  were  villages. 
To  the  east  we  saw  the  palm-trees  of  Hillah  ;  while  to  the 
northwest  lay  a  very  small  village  shaded  by  palm-trees, 
where  Rassam  used  to  live  while  conducting  his  excava- 
tions. All  else  was  flat  and  barren,  or  bearing  nothine 
but  camel-thorn  and  rushes. 

A  few  minutes  to  the  northeast  of  Birs  Nimrud  lies  the 
mound  of  Ibrahim  Khalil,  or  Ibrahim  the  Friend,  with  a 
ziaret  in  the  centre.  This  mound  represents  ancient 
Borsippa,  the  sister-city  of  Babylon,  while  Birs  Nimrud 
represents  the  temple  of  Nebo  and  the  ziggurat.  On  the 
eastern  and  southern  edges  of  the  mound  of  Ibrahim 
Khalil  are  the  trenches  which  yielded  results  to  Rassam 
in  the  way  of  inscribed  objects.  He  seems  to  have  found 
no  constructions  of  any  importance,  and  to  have  made 
no  efforts  to  trace  buildings  as  such.  I  knew  before- 
hand, from  our  London  collections,  that  diggings  were 
still  conducted  at  Ibrahim  Khalil,  and  obtained  further 
information  to  that  effect  while  at  Hillah.  I  had  the 
good  fortune  to  meet  the  individual  to  whom  had  be- 
longed the  objects  from  Borsippa  sold  to  me  in  London 
by  Shemtob.  I  ascertained  from  him  that  they  were  all 
found  in  the  mound  of  Ibrahim  Khalil,  but  was  told  that 
there  was  little  dug  out  there  in  comparison  with  the 
amount  brought  from  the  mounds  of  Babylon.  A  colo- 
phon on  a  tablet  of  Nabopolassar,  in  the  London  pur- 
chase, suggested  the  existence  of  a  library  at  Borsippa. 
It  was  on  that  account  that  I  had  desired  to  obtain  per- 
mission to  excavate  there.  My  intention  was  to  try 
Nippur  first,  and,  if  that  should  prove  impracticable,  to 
remove  to  Borsippa,  at  which  point  we  were  comparatively 
close  to  civilization,  and  could  be  readily  protected.  I 
supposed,  moreover,  that  it  would  be  possible  to  conduct 


2l6  NIPPUR. 

excavations  at  Borsippa  for  a  longer  time  than  at  Nippur. 
The  information  derived  from  Layard's  account  of  his 
excavations  at  Nippur,  as  well  as  the  information  brought 
home  by  the  Wolfe  Expedition,  had  led  me  to  suppose 
that  that  place  would  be  practicable  but  for  a  brief  part 
of  the  year.  In  laying  out  my  plans,  therefore,  for  this 
first  year's  work,  I  had  expected,  when  we  should  be 
obliged  to  leave  Nippur,  to  come  to  Borsippa  and  work 
there. 

In  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Genesis  there  is  a  legend  to 
the  effect  that  when  all  the  people  of  the  earth  were  of 
one  language,  as  they  journeyed  hither  and  thither  from 
the  east,  or  in  the  eastern  country,  they  found  a  plain  in 
the  land  of  Shinar,  and  took  up  their  abode  there ;  and 
having  become  settled  residents  of  the  soil,  they  under- 
took to  make  bricks  and  burn  them  very  thoroughly ;  for 
bricks  constituted  the  stone  of  the  land,  and  bitumen  the 
mortar.  "  And  they  said,  Come,  let  us  build  us  a  city 
and  a  tower  whose  summit  shall  be  in  the  sky ;  and  let  us 
make  us  a  name,  lest  we  be  scattered  over  all  the  earth. 
And  Yahweh  looked  down  to  see  the  city  and  the  tower 
which  the  children  of  men  built.  And  Yahweh  said,  Lo, 
these  are  one  people,  they  have  all  one  language,  and 
this  is  the  beginning  of  their  doings,  and  now  nothing  is 
impossible  with  them  of  all  which  they  have  planned  to 
do.  Come,  let  us  go  down  and  confuse  their  language, 
so  that  they  may  not  understand  one  another's  speech. 
And  Yahweh  scattered  them  thence  upon  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth,  and  they  ceased  to  build  the  city.  There- 
fore its  name  was  called  Babel,  because  there  Yahweh 
confounded  the  language  of  the  whole  earth."  The 
story,  as  we  have  it  here,  comes  from  the  Yahwistic  nar- 
rative, and  was  written  down  probably  somewhere  in  the 
eighth  century  before  Christ,  two  hundred  years  or  so 
before  Nebuchadrezzar.  How  much  older  the  story  it- 
self may  be,  it  is  difficult  to  say.     It  suggests  to  us  an 


BAGHDAD  AND  BABYLON.  217 

unfinished  building  of  great  size,   constructed  of  baked 
brick. 

Now,  in  the  clay  cylinders  of  Nebuchadrezzar  found 
by  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  in  the  corners  of  the  ziggurat  of 
Birs  Nimrud,  we  read  : 

"  Nebuchadrezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  the  rightful  ruler, 
the  expression  of  the  righteous  heart  of  Marduk,  the 
exalted  high  priest,  the  beloved  of  Nebo,  the  wise  prince, 
who  devotes  his  care  to  the  affairs  of  the  great  gods,  the 
unwearying  ruler,  the  restorer  of  Esagila  and  Ezida,  the 
son  and  heir  of  Nabopolassar,  king  of  Babylon,  am  I. 

Marduk  the  great  god  formed  me  aright  and  com- 
missioned me  to  perform  his  restoration;  Nebo,  guider  of 
the  universe  of  heaven  and  earth,  placed  in  my  hand  the 
right  sceptre ;  Esagila,  the  house  of  heaven  and  earth, 
the  abode  of  Marduk,  lord  of  the  gods,  Ekua,  the  sanc- 
tuary of  his  lordship,  I  adorned  gloriously  with  shining 
gold.  Ezida  I  built  anew,  and  completed  its  construction 
with  silver,  gold,  precious  stones,  bronze,  iiius2ikka)ii 
wood,  and  cedar  wood.  Tiiniiianki,  the  ziggurat  of 
Babylon,  I  built  and  completed ;  of  bricks  glazed  with 
lapis-lazuli  (blue)  I  erected  its  summit. 

"  At  that  time  the  house  of  the  seven  divisions  of 
heaven  and  earth,  the  ziggurat  of  Borsippa,  which  a  for- 
mer king  had  built  and  carried  up  to  the  height  of  forty- 
two  ells,  but  the  summit  of  which  he  had  not  erected, 
was  long  since  fallen  into  decay,  and  its  water  conduits 
had  become  useless;  rain  storms  and  tempests  had  pene- 
trated its  unbaked  brick-work;  the  bricks  which  cased  it 
were  bulged  out,  the  unbaked  bricks  of  its  terraces  were 
converted  into  rubbish  heaps.  The  great  lord  Marduk 
moved  my  heart  to  rebuild  it.  Its  place  I  changed  not 
and  its  foundation  I  altered  not.  In  a  lucky  month,  on 
an  auspicious  day  I  rebuilt  the  unbaked  bricks  of  its  ter- 
races and  its  encasing  bricks,  which  were  broken  away, 
and  I  raised  up  that  which  was  fallen  down.      My  inscrip- 


2l8  NIPPUR. 

tions  I  put  upon  the  kiliri  of  its  buildings.  To  build  it 
and  to  erect  its  summit  I  set  my  hand.  I  built  it  anew  as 
in  former  times;  as  in  days  of  yore  I  erected  its  summit. 

"  Nebo,  rightful  son,  lordly  messenger,  majestic  friend 
of  Marduk,  look  kindly  on  my  pious  works;  long  life, 
enjoyment  of  health,  a  firm  throne,  a  long  reign,  the 
•overthrow  of  foes,  and  conquest  of  the  land  of  the  enemy 
■give  me  as  a  gift.  On  thy  righteous  tablet  which  deter- 
mines the  course  of  heaven  and  earth,  record  for  me 
length  of  days,  write  for  me  wealth.  Before  Marduk, 
lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  father  who  bore  thee,  make 
pleasant  my  days,  speak  favorably  for  me.  Let  this  be 
in  thy  mouth,  '  Nebuchadrezzar,  the  restorer  king.' 

Nebuchadrezzar  describes  the  condition  in  which  the 
ziggurat  was  when  he  found  it.  It  was  built  long  before 
his  day,  and  built  with  very  ambitious  ideas.  It  was 
forty-two  ells  in  height,  but  the  summit  had  never  been 
completed.  The  consequence  of  this  failure  to  erect  the 
summit  was  that  the  water  struck  into  the  unprotected 
mud  bricks  forming  the  mass  of  the  interior  of  the  zig- 
gurat, dissolved  them,  and  broke  and  bulged  out  the 
■casing  walls  of  baked  bricks  by  which  the  different  ter- 
races were  held  in,  reducing  the  whole  to  a  huge  mass  of 
ruins.  The  water  conduits  referred  to  are  such  as 
Haynes  found  on  the  sides  of  the  ziggurat  at  Nippur, 
designed  to  carry  off  the  water  from  the  surfaces  of  the 
upper  terraces,  and  save  the  whole  structure  from  decay. 
These  conduits  are  useful  only  in  case  proper  arrange- 
ments are  made  to  carry  into  them  the  water  falling  on 
the  surfaces  of  the  upper  terraces.  The  failure  in  this 
case  to  "  erect  the  summit,"  and  the  consequent  soaking 
of  the  water  into  the  clay  bricks  of  the  interior,  soon 
rendered  these  conduits  useless. 

The  striking  similarities  of  this  story  to  that  of  the 
Tower  of  Babel  are,  outside  of  the  site,  the  extremely 
ambitious   nature   of    this    ziggurat    of    Borsippa    which 


BAGHDAD  AND  BABYLOX.  219 

Nebuchadrezzar  found  in  ruins,  and  the  fact  that  after  it 
had  been  raised  to  a  great  height  the  work  was  aban- 
doned, leaving  the  building  in  such  an  incomplete  condi- 
tion that  its  ruin  was  inevitable. 

As  Nebuchadrezzar  found  it,  the  tower  was  little  more 
than  an  enormous  mass  of  ruins.  He  built  it  over 
entirely,  and  made  it  a  seven-staged  ziggurat.  It  is  the 
ruins  of  Nebuchadrezzar's  ziggurat  which  constitute  the 
present  Birs  Nimrud,  and  the  explorations  which  have 
been  conducted  there  revealed  the  seven  stages  still 
existing. 

Now,  Nebuchadrezzar  gives  no  similar  description  of 
the  ruined  and  incomplete  condition  of  any  other  zig- 
gurat which  he  rebuilt.  He  rebuilt,  among  other  places, 
the  ziggurat  of  Esagil  in  Babylon,  but  he  says  nothing  of 
its  ruined  condition.  Evidently  the  ruined  condition  of 
the  ziggurat  at  Borsippa,  in  connection  with  its  great  size 
and  ambitious  design,  made  a  strong  impression  upon  his 
mind,  or  the  mind  of  the  writer  of  his  inscription.  This 
is  not  a  positive  proof  that  it  made  a  similar  impression 
on  the  world  at  large,  yet  the  natural  induction  is  that 
the  ruined  condition  of  this  ziggurat  was  notorious,  and 
impressed  all  beholders.  How  long  before  the  time  of 
Nebuchadrezzar  it  had  fallen  into  such  a  condition,  it  is 
impossible  from  our  present  information  to  say.  Nebu- 
chadrezzar says  "  long  since,"  and  does  not  mention  the 
name  of  the  original  builder,  calling  him  merely  "  a  for- 
mer king,"  as  though  its  original  construction  were  a 
thing  of  the  remote  past,  the  details  of  which  were  long 
since  forgotten.  But  whatever  the  date,  Nebuchadrez- 
zar's account  of  the  ruins  of  this  ziggurat  corresponds  so 
well  with  the  story  of  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Genesis, 
that  one  is  inclined  to  attach  that  story,  at  least  tenta- 
tively, to  this  ruin.  The  proximity  of  the  site  to  Babylon 
led  to  its  connection  with  that  well-known  name,  Babel, 
in  the  Hebrew  story. 


CHAPTER  X. 

NIPPUR   AT   LAST. 

A  Turkish  Dinner — Antiquity  Dealers — Strained  Relations — Diwanieh — 
Provincial  Officials — Turkish  Hospitality — First  Sight  of  Nippur — 
Sukh-el-Affech — The  Arrival — Affech  Land — A  Great  Chief — An  Un- 
ruly Country — Kal'at  Amerika — Mistakes — Begging  Arabs — Making 
a  Map — Arab  Dances — Camp  Building — War  Averted — Digging  up 
Graves. 

ON  the  evening  of  our  trip  to  Birs  Nimrud,  Hil- 
precht,  Field,  and  I  dined  with  the  Turkish  Colo- 
nel. The  dinner  was  quite  a  novelty  to  me.  It  was 
a  splendid  but  decidedly  miscellaneous  meal.  Before 
dinner  we  had  date  arrack,  almonds,  and  cigarettes  to 
whet  our  appetites.  The  first  course  consisted  of  chicken 
and  potatoes.  Each  man  was  provided  with  a  knife, 
fork  and  spoon,  which  he  retained  during  the  entire 
dinner,  the  dishes  being  changed  at  each  course.  We  all 
plunged  into  one  central  dish,  and  it  was  polite  for  each 
person  to  eat  faster  than  every  other.  At  each  end  of 
the  table  were  bowls  of  pickles,  in  which  we  went  fishing 
with  our  forks  or  spoons  as  we  saw  fit.  Once,  as  a  mark 
of  distinction,  the  host  presented  me  with  a  tidbit  on  his 
fork.  As  a  concession  to  Frank  usage,  we  had  beer  to 
drink  with  our  dinner.  After  the  chicken  came  spinach 
cooked  in  the  most  delightful  way  imaginable,  for  the 
Turks  certainly  know  how  to  cook.  With  this  was  served 
a  very  peculiar  sort  of  sour  oranges,  which  are  better 
than  lemons  for  squeezing  over  anything.     Then  came 


iVIPFL'R   AT  LAST.  221 

some  excellent  meat  pills,  for  I  scarcely  know  what  else 
to  call  them.  After  this  we  were  served  with  delicious 
sweet  cakes  floating  in  a  luscious  sauce;  then  cabbage 
with  meat  chopped  in  it;  then  rice  pilau  with  chicken 
tidbits  mixed  in ;  then  a  dish  which  I  have  forgotten ; 
then  more  sweet  cakes  of  another  kind ;  then  oranges. 
We  then  washed  our  hands  with  soap  and  water,  and 
rinsed  out  our  mouths,  after  the  Turkish  fashion,  and 
went  into  another  room,  where  coffee  and  cigarettes 
were  served,  and  where  several  guests,  including  a  Jew- 
ish millionaire,  Menahem  Effendi,  were  awaiting  our 
arriv^al. 

During  my  absence,  Noorian  had  contracted  with 
twenty  workmen  from  Jimjimeh  and  a  dozen  from  Birs 
Nimrud,  whom  he  thought  he  could  control  in  spite  of 
Bedry's  intrigues,  for  five  piastres  a  day  for  pick-men, 
and  four  each  for  shovellers  and  scrapers,  wages  to  com- 
mence four  days  later,  and  in  the  meantime  the  men  to 
receive  two  piastres  a  day.  As  these  men  were  all,  or 
almost  all,  notorious  antiquity  thieves,  he  selected  them 
from  two  rival  villages,  in  the  hope  of  preventing  fraud 
or  collusion,  by  means  of  rivalry  and  mutual  distrust. 
But  this  bi-partisan  plan  did  not  work  altogether  satis- 
factorily, as  will  be  seen  later.  He  had  also  found  some 
antiquity  dealers  in  the  place,  and  that  evening  I  had 
interviews  with  two  Jews,  brothers,  one  of  them  under 
the  ban,  and  sought  after  by  Bedry  as  an  offender  against 
the  antiquity  laws.  It  was  these  two  brothers,  it  seems, 
from  whom  came  some  of  the  most  valuable  pieces  of 
the  Shemtob  collection  purchased  in  London,  notably 
the  Nebuchadrezzar  cylinder  found  in  Babylon,  the  Na- 
bopolassar  tablet  found  in  Borsippa,  the  Artaxerxes  vase, 
and  the  Burnaburiash  cone.  It  was  not  possible  to  obtain 
from  them  precise  information  of  the  place  where  each 
object  was  found.  I  believe  that  the  Artaxerxes  vase 
and  the  Burnaburiash  cone  were  both  found  in  Babvlon. 


222  XIFPCR. 

Most  of  the  other  antiquities  had  been  duLj  out  b\-  Jimji- 
meh  men,  presumably  in  Babylon,  but  some  came  from 
Borsippa,  and  some  from  other  unknown  mounds. 

Sunday  morning,  January  27th,  we  went  with  Bedry  to 
call  upon  the  representative  of  the  Mutessarif,  the  latter 
official  being  absent  in  the  swamps  of  the  Abu  Nejm 
region,  looking  after  the  taxes  on  the  rice  crops.  We 
found  the  Serai,  or  government  building,  to  be  built  for 
the  most  part  of  bricks  bearing  the  Nebuchadrezzar 
stamp,  and  evidently  taken  from  the  ruins  of  Babylon. 
We  were  pleasantly  and  hospitably  received;  much  was 
said  of  the  danger  of  the  country,  and  we  were  given  a 
large  escort  of  zaptiehs.  It  turned  out  that  those  sent 
with  us  from  Baghdad  were  to  be  quartered  on  us,  and 
we  were  to  be  wholly  responsible  for  their  support.  The 
poor  fellows,  according  to  Bedry's  statement,  were  seven 
months  in  arrears  in  their  salaries,  and  he  succeeded  in 
obtaining  for  them  about  one  month's  pay.  We  ar- 
ranged to  leave  Hillah  for  Nippur  the  next  day,  the 
caravan  taking  the  direct  route,  while  Bedry,  Harper, 
and  I  went  by  way  of  Diwanieh,  the  residence  of  the 
Kaimakam  under  whose  jurisdiction  we  were  to  be. 

After  lunch,  Menahem  Effendi  and  Dr.  Azriyahu, 
the  military  physician  of  the  place,  also  a  Jew,  called  to 
take  us  to  the  synagogue  to  show  us  the  Pentateuch 
rolls,  of  which  they  had  several  besides  the  one  in  use. 
None  of  these  was  old  or  of  any  value.  They  told  us 
that  the  population  of  Hillah  was  about  twelve  thousand, 
of  whom  one  third  or  one  quarter  were  Jews;  and  the 
population  of  Baghdad  about  ninety  thousand,  of  whom 
one  third  were  Jews. 

While  Harper  and  I  were  visiting  the  synagogue, 
Noorian  and  Hilprecht  were  investigating  antiquities. 
They  made  an  appointment  to  go  and  see  one  of  the 
Jews  whom  I  had  met  the  day  before,  who  was  to  take 
them  to  a  place  where  there  were  antiquities.     An  unfor- 


NIPPUR  AT  LAST.  223: 

tunate  word  from  Haynes  aroused  the  suspicions  of 
Bedry,  and  he  had  them  shadowed  by  Elias,  his  servant, 
who  reported  that  they  returned  with  their  pockets 
stuffed  out.  This  was  true,  for  they  had  brought  a 
quantity  of  the  things  to  show  me  before  concluding  the 
purchase,  which  was  made  with  money  Prince  had  placed 
in  Hilprecht's  hands  for  this  purpose.  The  antiquities 
were  with  some  difficulty  returned  to  the  Jew  for  safe 
keeping  the  following  morning.  Bedry  asked  me  point 
blank  if  I  had  bought  antiquities  in  Hillah,  and  it  was  for- 
tunate that  I  was  able  to  say  no.  He  demanded  from  the 
Mutessarif  the  arrest  of  one  of  the  two  Jews  who  had  sold 
the  antiquities  to  Hilprecht.  The  Mutessarif  ordered  his 
arrest,  but  he  could  nowhere  be  found,  although  I  saw 
him  drinking  coffee  in  a  public  cafe.  It  was  quite  plain 
that  he  and  the  officials  of  the  Serai  understood  one  an- 
other. Bedry  naturally  became  more  suspicious  after  this 
incident.  He  endeavored  to  make  me  employ  the  Sheikh 
of  Jimjimeh  as  chief  of  our  workmen,  and  actually  had 
the  impudence  to  engage  men  for  us  on  his  own  respon- 
sibility, whom  I  refused  to  accept. 

Matters  between  Bedry  and  me  were  strained  when  we 
left  Hillah  on  the  morning  of  the  28th  of  January.  He 
was  anxious  to  wait  until  he  had  seen  the  caravan  depart 
from  Hillah,  and  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  start  before 
the  caravan,  in  order  that  Xoorian  might  have  free  hand 
in  the  matter  of  workmen,  and  that  Hilprecht  might 
have  fair  opportunity  to  confer  with  the  antiquity  deal- 
ers. In  consequence,  Bedry  was  in  a  frightful  humor, 
and  beat  first  his  horse  and  then  the  muleteer.  W^e  were 
attended  by  Elias  and  two  zaptiehs,  and  only  took  one 
mule-  or  rather  horse-load  of  baggage,  but  some  soldiers 
accompanied  us  with  a  load  of  cartridges  for  the  garrison 
at  Diwanieh.  We  passed  a  great  number  of  canals,  old 
and  new,  but  all  were  dry,  and  the  country  was  mani- 
festly suffering  from  drought,  caused  by  the  low  water  in 


224  NIPPUR. 

the  Riv'er  Euphrates.  It  was  two  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon when  we  reached  Imam  Kasim,  or  Jasim,  a  ziaret 
surrounded  by  a  small  mud  village  of  Jebur  Arabs,  where 
we  stopped  for  the  night.  This  is  a  sacred  burying-place 
for  the  Arabs  of  the  neighborhood.  Who  the  Imam  was 
who  is  buried  there,  I  do  not  know,  nor  how  far  his  fame 
extends,  but  the  number  of  graves  which  surround  the 
place  is  quite  considerable. 

We  slept  in  our  clothes  in  the  little  coffee-house,  and 
started  the  next  morning  at  about  half-past  seven.  At 
twenty  minutes  before  ten  we  passed  the  small  tel  of  el- 
Zune,  which  covers  some  unknown  town.  Other  tels 
were  visible  in  various  directions,  from  time  to  time, — 
Abu  Kazal,  Abu  Jellin,  Wennet,  Si'dum,  Mahani,  and 
Zaghul.  All  of  these  we  passed  at  some  little  distance 
on  the  right  or  left  before  our  noon-day  meal,  which  we 
ate  by  the  Euphrates.  So  narrow  and  so  shallow  was 
the  river  here  that  a  man  crossed  it  without  wetting  him- 
self above  the  middle  of  the  leg.  The  country  was  very 
barren.  Here  and  there  we  saw  the  black  tents  of  the 
Jebur  Arabs,  and  the  country  on  either  side  of  the  river 
was  dotted  with  mud  forts,  in  which  live  the  sheikhs  of 
the  country.  There  are  quantities  of  fairly  modern 
canals,  but  all  were  dr}'.  No  trees  were  to  be  seen  except 
a  few  stray  palms  here  and  there,  perishing  with  thirst  by 
the  side  of  some  dry  canal.  Sa'adik,  one  of  our  zap- 
tiehs,  was  anxious  to  inform  himself  regarding  America. 
He  asked  me  whether  Ave  had  a  sultan,  and  when  I  told 
him  no,  he  assumed  that  America  must  be  a  dependency 
of  Turkey,  and  asked  me  whether  we  had  a  wall.  With 
much  difficulty,  in  my  poor  Turkish,  and  with  the  aid  of 
my  fingers,  I  explained  to  him  that  we  were  all  equal, 
and  that  every  four  years  we  made  one  man  head  of  all 
the  rest,  and  each  four  years  a  different  man.  This  im- 
pressed him  greatly,  and  I  found  him  later  imparting  his 
information  about  America  to  an  admiring  party  of  Arabs. 


NIPPUR  AT  LAST.  22$ 

It  was  twenty  minutes  before  four  when  we  reached 
the  Serai  at  Diwanieh,  after  fording  the  riv^er  Euphrates, 
which  scarcely  reached  at  the  deepest  point  to  my  horse's 
behy.  Diwanieh  hes  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  but  the 
important  part,  where  are  the  Serai  and  the  mihtary 
barracks,  is  situated  on  the  eastern  side.  It  is  said  to  be 
a  place  of  about  three  thousand  inhabitants.  There  was 
no  bridge.  There  were  a  few  boats  in  the  river,  but 
there  was  not  sufficient  water  to  float  them.  About  a 
quarter  or  a  half  of  an  hour  above  Diwanieh,  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river,  is  the  ziaret  and  little  village  of  Abu 
Fadhil. 

Diwanieh  is  the  seat  of  a  kaimakam,  and  a  battalion  of 
infantry  is  stationed  there.  We  were  the  guests  of  the 
Kaimakam,  Khalil  Bey,  of  Trcbizond,  who  showed  us 
every  possible  hospitality.  The  poor  fellow  had  received 
no  salary  for  seven  months,  so  he  told  me.  I  brought  a 
letter  from  Reshid  Bey,  the  colonel  of  the  regiment,  to 
Ibrahim  Bey,  major  in  command  of  the  troops  at  Diwa- 
nieh; and  he,  with  his  second  in  command,  Mustafa  Bey, 
showed  us  much  hospitality.  We  were  installed  in  the 
Kaimakam 's  reception  room  in  the  Serai,  where  we  were 
members  of  the  council  by  day,  and  slept  by  night.  The 
Turkish  method  of  transacting  business  in  a  provinical 
serai  is  v^ery  amusing.  Everything  seems  to  be  done  in 
a  sort  of  public  talkee  talkee,  in  which  anyone  feels  at 
liberty  to  take  part.  Documents  are  passed  about  to 
each  stray  comer,  and  all  express  their  opinions.  How- 
ever, the  Kaimakam  acted  quite  promptly  in  sending  off 
•our  letters  to  the  Mutessarif,  Yaya  Bey,  and  the  head 
Sheikh  of  the  Affech,  Hajji  Tarfa,  who  were  said  to  be 
in  the  Shamieh,  or  region  west  of  the  river.  We  were 
almost  murdered  with  hospitality.  As  soon  as  we  came 
in  we  were  presented  with  cigarettes  and  coffee,  which 
were  renewed,  from  time  to  time,  during  the  period  of 
three  quarters  of  an  hour,  while  we  were  transacting  the 

VOL.  I— 15 


226  NIPPUR. 

business  of  the  letters,  and  discussing  them  with  the 
whole  divan.  Then  we  changed  to  tea  and  narghilehs. 
Then  came  a  miscellaneous  but  very  solid  dinner,  at 
which  we  all  ate  out  of  one  dish,  every  one  waiting  for 
me  to  start,  stopping  when  I  stopped,  drinking  when  I 
drank,  and  eating  when  I  ate.  It  was  a  dinner  of  only 
about  four  courses,  but  they  were  solid.  Then  came 
coffee  and  the  narghilehs,  and  all  the  notables  with  them 
to  pay  their  respects  and  enjoy  a  sociable  evening. 
Here,  as  everywhere,  Bedry  told  incredible  lies  about 
me,  for  the  purpose  of  making  my  position  great,  and 
thereby  also  aggrandizing  himself.  I  was  treated  as  a 
man  of  most  marked  distinction,  but  as  it  cost  nothing, 
it  was  not  a  disadvantage,  and,  indeed,  Bedry  always 
knew  how  to  secure  entertainment  and  dignity  at  the 
least  possible  expense.  At  Imam  Jasim,  for  instance, 
we  had  a  whole  house  and  a  large  courtyard,  and  por- 
tions of  several  other  houses ;  we  fed  our  three  selves,  our 
servants,  two  soldiers,  two  muleteers,  together  with  all 
the  horses,  seven  in  all,  three  meals  for  each  man  and 
each  beast,  and  we  hired  a  man  to  watch  the  horses  all 
night — all  for  the  magnificent  sum  of  one  dollar. 

It  was  quite  late  when  at  last  the  company  asked  leave 
to  retire,  and  we  went  to  bed  in  the  judgment  hall,  or 
reception  room,  or  whatever  else  you  may  choose  to  call 
it,  where  the  entire  business  of  the  kaimakamlik  is  trans- 
acted. Before  we  were  dressed  the  next  morning,  the 
Kaimakam  and  the  notables  were  on  hand,  and  it  was 
with  much  difificulty  that  I  obtained  permission  to  eat  a 
breakfast  of  bread  and  coffee  before  being  compelled  to 
commence  drinking  and  smoking  Turkish  things  once 
more.  I  was  seated  by  the  side  of  the  Kaimakam  and 
courteously  invited  to  assist  my  host  in  the  ceremonies. 
When  any  one  arrived  we  arose  and  moved  our  hands 
toward  the  lips  and  head,  he  doing  the  same.  Then 
we  sat  and  he  sat ;  we  repeated  the  ceremony  and  he  did 


XIPPUR  AT  LAST.  22/ 

the  same,  first  to  us  and  then  to  each  person  present. 
Within  a  minute  a  servant  brought  him  a  cup  of  coffee 
and  a  hghted  coaL  With  the  latter  he  Hghted  the  cig- 
arette which  had  ah'eady  been  given  to  him.  Every  now 
and  then  the  servant  brought  in  coffee  all  around. 

After  a  while  we  were  invited  to  go  and  see  the  bar- 
racks. Everywhere  the  soldiers  presented  arms  to  me  as 
though  I  were  a  high  official.  In  the  barracks  the  com- 
manding officer  treated  us  to  coffee  and  narghilehs,  and 
the  Armenian  military  doctor,  who  ought  to  have  known 
better  from  a  medical  point  of  view,  made  us  smoke 
cigarettes  and  drink  lemonade.  At  twelve  o'clock  we 
sat  down  to  a  very  solid  breakfast  of  six  or  eight  heavy 
courses,  which  was  followed  by  three  cups  of  coffee  and 
narghilehs.  In  the  evening  we  dined  at  the  barracks 
with  Ibrahim  and  Mustafa.  This  dinner  was  very  elabor- 
ate and  very  Turkish,  but  the  hospitality  was  unbounded, 
and  indeed  I  have  never  seen  any  hospitality  equal  to 
that  of  the  Turks.  We  stayed  a  long  time  after  dinner, 
and  they  told  us  much  of  the  danger  from  the  Arabs  in 
the  region  to  which  we  were  going,  over  whom,  they  said, 
the  government  had  no  authority.  Some  of  the  ofificers 
had  been  prisoners  in  Russia,  and  spoke  a  few  words  of 
Russian.  They  had  also  imbibed  ideas  with  regard  to 
the  greatness  of  domains  outside  of  Turkey  and  of  the 
advances  made  by  Western  civilization.  Their  imprison- 
ment had  had  in  so  far  a  civilizing  influence.  In  answer 
to  their  questions  we  told  them  about  the  greatness  of 
America,  and  especially  about  the  wonders  of  electricity, 
but  here  it  was  not  always  possible  to  obtain  their  cred- 
ence. They  would  have  believed  any  tale  I  told  them 
about  witchcraft,  or  bogies  and  magic,  but  it  was  difficult 
for  them  to  believe  the  actual  truth  in  regard  to  the 
achievements  of  modern  science. 

The  town  of  Diwanieh  is  a  miserable  little  collection  of 
mud  hovels,  more  than  half  of  them  deserted,  surrounded 


228  A'IFFi'R. 

by  a  mud  wall  which  a  man  could  kick  down  at  most 
points,  if  so  disposed.  There  was  a  telegraph  station,  as 
well  as  a  post-office,  there,  however,  and  I  was  able  to 
make  arrangements  for  the  weekly  despatch  of  mail  to  us, 
and  also  for  the  forwarding  of  telegraphic  despatches, 
should  any  arrive.  During  the  whole  course  of  our  work 
at  Nippur  we  were  thus  in  comparatively  close  connection, 
through  mail  and  telegraph,  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 

We  left  Diwanieh  about  half-past  eight  on  the  morning 
of  Thursday,  January  31st.  Our  course  lay  east  through 
a  perfectly  flat  plain,  on  the  verge  of  which,  north  twenty 
degrees  east,  were  just  visible  the  palms  of  Daghara,  on 
the  canal  of  the  same  name.  At  about  half-past  ten  we 
entered  a  region  covered  with  brush  and  camel  thorn, 
quite  a  contrast  to  the  absolutely  uncovered  clay  one 
generally  sees.  In  this  tract  we  found  large  numbers  of 
camels  feeding  under  the  care  of  Arabs,  who  said  that 
they  were  not  their  owners,  but  only  bedu,  or  herdsmen. 
They  called  themselves  Araksi  Arabs,  a  name  which  I 
never  heard  before  or  afterward.  Shortly  after  noon  we 
reached  the  Daghara  Canal,  and  forded  it  at  the  little 
village  of  Sheikh  Halhal,  of  the  Dheleyha  Arabs,  formerly 
a  sub-tribe  of  the  Affech.  The  Daghara  was  narrow,  but 
deeper  and  swifter  than  the  Euphrates  at  Diwanieh,  and 
far  more  water  passes  through  it.  We  halted  on  the 
other  side  for  lunch,  and  scarcely  had  we  started  again  at 
quarter  before  two,  when  we  caught  sight  of  the  mounds 
of  Nippur  to  the  northeast,  and  the  tents  of  our  party 
shining  white  upon  the  summit.  I  had  become  so  familiar 
Avith  the  appearance  of  Nippur  from  cuts  and  drawings, 
that  it  did  not  seem  to  me  like  an  unknown  mound,  at 
least  as  soon  as  I  came  sufficiently  close  to  recognize  the 
contour. 

Our  road  led  through  a  swamp  region  on  a  course  a 
little  north  of  east,  toward  Sukh-el-Affech  (market  of  the 
Affech),  the  palms  of  which  were  visible  in  front  of  us. 


NIPPUR  AT  LAST.  229 

We  met  a  corpse  wrapped  in  reeds,  carried  on  the  back 
of  a  mule.  Asking  the  cause  of  his  death,  we  were  told 
that  he  had  been  murdered.  They  were  on  their  way  to 
bury  him  in  a  sacred  spot. 

I  wished  to  go  directly  to  Nippur,  but  Bedry  insisted 
that  this  was  neither  practicable  nor  desirable,  since  we 
ought  to  see  the  Mudir  of  Affech  and  the  acting  chief  of 
the  Affech  tribe  at  once,  and  establish  friendly  relations 
with  both  of  them.  In  point  of  fact  there  is  no  direct 
road  across  the  swamps  to  Xippur,  and  one  must  make  a 
detour,  although  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  as  far  around 
as  Sukh-el-Affech.  We  had  with  us  a  guard  of  five 
mounted  zaptiehs,  besides  an  unmounted  one  who  was 
returning  to  his  post  at  Affech ;  nevertheless,  Bedry 
seemed  much  alarmed  for  fear  of  an  attack,  for  that 
country  has  a  bad  reputation.  It  was  only  an  hour's 
march  from  Hajji  Halhal's  village  to  the  Sukh,  but  we 
were  obliged  to  ford  a  deep  and  swift  stream  before 
reaching  the  latter.  Sukh-el-Affech  seemed  to  be  prac- 
tically a  series  of  islands,  and  consisted  of  a  long  string 
of  villages  built  among  palm  trees.  Wherever  there  is 
cultivation,  there  must  be  irrigation,  and  a  village  such  as 
Sukh-el-Affech  means  a  system  of  canals.  The  place  was 
as  amphibious  as  Venice.  The  water  comes  from  the 
Euphrates  by  means  of  the  Daghara  canal,  which  also 
forms  the  marshes  to  the  west  and  southwest  of  Nippur. 

We  had  a  brief  interview  in  the  open  air  with  the  Mudir, 
and  also  with  Hajji  Tarfa's  eldest  son,  Mekota,  who  was 
acting  chief  in  his  father's  absence.  Both  the  ^ludirand 
Bedry  begged  me  to  stay  at  Affech  for  the  night,  on  ac- 
count of  the  danger  and  difificulty  of  the  journey  across 
the  marshes  to  Nippur.  But  I  had  told  Haynes  that  I 
would  reach  Nippur  that  evening,  and  I  meant  to  keep 
my  word;  moreover,  now  that  I  had  caught  sight  of  the 
mounds,  I  could  not  bear  to  make  any  further  delay, 
feeling  that   I   must  reach  my  work  as  speedily  as  pos- 


230  NIPPUR. 

siblc.  Bedry  decided  to  remain  at  the  village,  and 
Harper  and  I  went  on,  accompanied  by  Alekota  and  his 
younger  brother,  Mohammed,  and  a  number  of  armed 
Arabs  on  horse  and  foot,  eleven  in  all,  besides  three  or 
four  of  the  zaptiehs.  It  was  a  three  hours'  hard  ride, 
and  there  was  much  and  deep  fording.  The  horsemen 
brandished  long  bamboo  lances,  and  the  footmen  carried 
old-fashioned,  gaudily  decorated  flint-locks  of  inordinate 
length,  or  discarded,  double-barrelled,  muzzle-loading 
shotguns  from  India,  and  all  wore  in  their  girdles  impos- 
sible ancient  pistols,  knives,  and  bitumen-headed  clubs. 
The  chiefs  rode  bareback  on  mares  which  they  guided 
with  halters  onl)^,  dashing  off  every  instant  in  a  wild  gal- 
lop, shaking  their  lances  at  imaginary  foes,  while  the 
footmen  fired  their  pieces  in  the  air,  sang,  screamed,  and 
danced  war-dances.  Our  stallions  reared  and  plunged  in 
wild  excitement ;  the  fun  waxed  fast  and  furious,  and  it 
was  impossible  to  resist  the  mad  contagion.  We  dashed 
through  canebrakes,  floundered  in  marshes,  splashed 
across  innumerable  canals,  stumbled  and  tumbled  up 
and  down  the  intricate  ravines  of  the  old  ruin  mounds, 
lost  ourselves  in  their  mazes,  howled,  yelled,  fired  shots 
in  the  air,  and  at  last  came  upon  our  comrades  encamped 
on  top  of  the  mounds,  and  fearing  that  the  whole  Affech 
nation  had  risen  to  attack  them. 

The  guard  of  Arabs  who  had  accompanied  us  demanded 
to  be  fed  and  housed,  and  as  the  camp  was  in  an  entirely 
disorganized  state,  and  there  was  not  sufficient  accom- 
modation for  ourselves,  we  were  obliged  to  send  them  to 
the  nearest  Arab  camp,  the  chief  of  which,  Berdi  (^Marsh 
Grass),  had  already  befriended  our  party  on  the  mound. 
They  had  arrived  at  Nippur,  and  pitched  their  tents  on 
the  preceding  day.  They  reported  the  country  much 
disturbed,  and  full  of  wars  and  rumors  of  wars.  Ferhan, 
the  great  Shammar  chief,  was  said  to  be  about  a  day's 
journey  from  Nippur,  and  not  far  from  the  line  of  their 


KIP  PUR  AT  LAST.  23  I 

march  from  Kheygan  down.  Once  they  were  surrounded 
in  a  menacing  manner  by  apparently  hostile  Arabs,  and 
another  time  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  in  which  they 
were  lodged  ran  out  on  a  false  alarm  of  an  attack.  Sev- 
eral times  they  saw  the  signal  of  alarm  waved  from 
mounds  near  their  line  of  march  and,  when  they  ap- 
peared on  the  mounds  of  Nippur,  the  neighboring  Arabs 
ran  their  flocks  into  shelter,  supposing  them  to  be  a  hos- 
tile foray.  It  was  said  that  a  fight  had  taken  place  at 
Nippur,  or  near  it,  a  few  days  before,  in  which  one 
Shammar  was  killed.  The  Shammar  had  carried  off  a 
number  of  Affech  sheep,  we  were  told,  whereupon  the 
Affech  had  seized  a  number  of  Shammar  camels.  The 
Shammar  gave  five  horses  as  a  pledge  that  they  would 
return  the  sheep,  whereupon  the  camels  were  returned, 
and  war  was  averted.  Such  were  the  stories  which  we 
heard  on  our  arrival  at  Nippur. 

Niffer,  as  it  is  ordinarily  written;  Nufar,  as  I  heard  it 
from  the  Arabs ;  ancient  Nippur,  lies  on  the  northeastern 
edge  of  the  territory  of  the  Affek  or  Affech  Arabs,  be- 
tween the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates,  about  one  hundred 
miles  east  of  south  from  Baghdad.  Originally  a  portion 
of  the  great  Shammar  bedouin  tribe,  one  of  those  hordes 
which  ever  and  anon  pour  out  of  the  interior  of  Arabia 
to  overrun  the  neighboring  lands,  the  Affech  became,  a 
few  generations  since,  ma'dan,  that  is,  settled  Arabs, 
dwelling  in  huts  and  tilling  the  soil,  an  advance  in  civiliz- 
ation  which  is,  of  course,  regarded  as  a  sad  degradation 
by  their  bedouin  kinsfolk  and  neighbors.  Their  country 
is  marshy,  and  intersected  with  numerous  canals,  among 
and  along  which  lie  their  villages.  Each  village  consists 
of  a  few  huts  of  marsh  reeds  and  palm  mats,  with  a  guest 
house,  or  muthif,  of  the  same,  grouped  about  a  mud 
castle.  The  latter  is  the  residence  of  the  chief,  with  his 
wives  and  children,  and  one  or  two  trusty  kinsmen. 
More  than  this  he  dare  not  admit,  for  fear  of  murder,  for 


232  A' IP  PUR. 

no  chief  feels  himself  secure,  even  among  his  own  people. 
The  land  is  the  property  of  the  chiefs,  and  is  tilled  for 
them  by  their  tribesmen,  whom  they,  on  their  part,  are 
bound  to  defend  and  provide  for.  The  fertility  of  the 
soil  depends  entirely  upon  irrigation  by  canals,  and  water 
is  therefore  one  of  the  most  common  causes  of  the  fre- 
quent wars.  A  tribe  up  the  canal  dams  the  water  for  the 
purpose  of  irrigating  its  own  soil,  and  a  tribe  below  seeks 
to  cut  the  dam  by  force,  whereupon  a  war  ensues.  The 
headquarters  of  the  Affech  nation  is  the  Sukh-el-Affech, 
which  lies  about  six  miles  southeast  of  the  Nippur 
mounds.  The  village  of  the  chief,  which  lies  close  to 
this,  was  known  as  Shatt-el-Hosein. 

The  chief  of  the  Affech.  Hajji  Tarfa,  which  is,  being 
interpreted,  Pilgrim  Tamarisk,  is  the  most  powerful  and 
independent  chief  of  southern  Mesopotamia.  A  little 
more  than  twenty  years  before  the  Turks  attempted  to 
levy  taxes  and  enforce  conscription  among  the  ma'dan 
Arabs  of  that  region.  The  Governor  of  Hillah  and  a 
battalion  of  soldiers  came  to  Sukh-el-Affech  for  this  pur- 
pose. But  the  Arabs  from  all  the  country  around  col- 
lected, surrounded  them,  and  massacred  the  governor,, 
the  colonel,  and  every  soldier  not  of  Arab  origin.  It  is 
claimed  that  Hajji  Tarfa  took  no  part  in  the  massacre; 
nevertheless,  he  at  once  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
tribes,  and  maintained  for  some  time  a  successful  rebellion 
against  the  government.  Finally  Midhat  Pasha,  then 
governor-general  of  Baghdad,  built  a  dam  across  the 
Daghara  canal,  by  which  the  water  of  the  Euphrates  is 
brought  into  the  Affech  marshes,  thus  drying  up  those 
marshes  and  rendering  the  country  accessible  to  his 
troops  in  front.  At  the  same  time  he  engaged  a  large 
force  of  ^lontefich  Arabs  to  fall  upon  the  Affech  from 
the  desert  in  their  rear.  Taken  thus  in  front  and  rear, 
they  were  severely  punished,  and  compelled  to  recognize 
a  nominal  allegiance  to  the  Turkish  Government;  never- 


NIPPUR  AT  LAST.  233 

theless,  the  Turks  were  unable  to  establish  any  actual 
authority  over  them,  the  conscription  has  never  been 
enforced,  and  no  taxes  have  been  levied ;  so  that,  al- 
though defeated,  they  were  yet  practically  victorious. 
Partly,  doubtless,  this  is  due  to  Hajji  Tarfa's  diplomatic 
ability  in  placing  money,  horses,  and  the  like  where  they 
will  do  the  most  good.  He  has  even  made  himself /rr- 
sona  grata  with  the  authorities,  and,  in  addition  to  his 
position  as  sheikh  of  the  unruly  and  turbulent  Affech,  he 
is  also  the  Sultan's  tenant  on  some  of  the  latter's  private 
estates  on  the  other  side  of  the  Euphrates.  During  the 
first  year  of  our  excavations  he  actually  took  up  his  resi- 
dence on  those  estates  among  the  rice  marshes,  relegating 
the  government  of  the  Affech  to  his  son  Mekota,  a  tur- 
bulent and  treacherous  youth,  with  the  apparent  inten- 
tion of  avoiding  responsibility  for  the  complications  which 
he  foresaw  in  consequence  of  our  expedition. 

But  Hajji  Tarfa,  although  a  great  and  powerful  chief, 
does  not  possess  absolute  sway  even  over  the  few  tribes 
constituting  the  so-called  Affech  nation.  The  authority 
of  a  sheikh  is  largely  moral,  depending  upon  his  ability, 
wealth,  and  the  like,  or  upon  the  need  of  a  leader  to 
resist  some  outside  adversary.  In  times  of  peace  and 
security  the  various  petty  chiefs,  who  loosely  recognize 
his  leadership,  are  apt  to  fight  with  one  another.  So  at 
the  time  of  our  arrival  the  el-Behahtha  Affech  to  the 
west,  and  the  el-Hamza  x\ffech  to  the  south  were  in  hos- 
tile relations  to  one  another,  and  each  laid  claim  to  the 
mounds  of  Nippur.  It  was  with  the  el-Behahtha  that 
Layard  stayed  in  185 1  during  his  two  week's  work  at 
Nippur,  when  he  was  brought  to  the  mounds  by  boat 
each  morning  and  carried  back  the  same  way  each  even- 
ing. In  those  days  the  el-Behahtha  were  the  leading 
members  of  the  Affech  nation,  and  their  chief,  Agab,  the 
head  chief.      Now  the  el-Hamza  have  the  chieftaincy. 

To  the  north  and  east  of   Nippur  stretches  a  desert, 


234  NIPPUR. 

roaming  ground  of  various  tribes,  the  most  settled  of 
which  are  the  es-Sa'id,  a  small  tribe  of  bad  repute,  half- 
bedouin  and  half-ma'dan.  These  also  lay  claim  to  the 
mounds  of  Nippur,  as  forming  a  part  of  their  lands. 
Such  were  the  conditions  of  the  country,  as  we  learned 
them  later  by  experience.  But  of  all  these  things  we  had 
no  previous  information,  and  when  Mustafa  Assim  Pasha 
told  me  in  Baghdad  that  I  had  chosen  the  most  difficult 
and  unruly  portion  of  his  province  for  our  excavations,  I 
received  his  statement  with  many  grains  of  salt,  suspect- 
ing him  of  some  ulterior  motive. 

Friday,  February  ist,  we  commenced  the  erection  of  a 
permanent  camp.  We  had  thirty-two  workmen  with  us 
from  Jimjimeh  and  Birs  Nimrud,  six  of  whom  had  brought 
their  wives  and  families.  All  of  these  had  to  be  provided 
for,  as  well  as  our  own  people.  Haynes  had  pitched  the 
tents  on  the  highest  point  on  the  southwestern  side  of 
the  great  canal,  said  to  be  the  Shatt-en-Nil,  which  divides 
the  mounds  of  Nippur  into  two  approximately  even 
halves.  He  supposed  at  the  time  that  this  situation  on 
the  summit  of  the  mounds  would  be  the  safest,  the  most 
healthy,  and  the  most  comfortable.  From  there  we  could 
look  over  the  country  and  observe  any  purpose  of  attack 
upon  us  better  than  if  we  had  been  upon  the  level.  We 
were  also  less  liable  to  malaria  when  thus  removed  from 
the  marshes,  and  we  should  be  likely  to  have  during  the 
warm  weather  cool  breezes.  I  named  the  camp  Kal'at 
Amerika  (Castle  America).  But  our  site,  as  we  learned 
later  from  sad  experience,  was  a  great  mistake.  We  were 
compelled  to  carry  water  a  long  distance  up  hill,  which  was 
expensive  even  when  the  marshes  were  full.  We  were  very 
much  annoyed  by  sand  storms.  There  was  always  a  high 
wind,  and  the  loose  soil  of  the  mound  raised  by  this  wind 
enveloped  us  with  clouds  of  dust,  which  was  sometimes 
quite  intolerable,  while  on  the  plain  below  there  was  no 
dust  whatever.     The  mound  itself  was  a  no  man's  land. 


■CYn"  -t-^-7-;- 


NIPPUR  AT  LAST.  235 

and  we  were  under  the  protection  of  no  tribe,  but  ex- 
posed to  the  invasions  of  all.  We  were  very  conspicuous, 
perched  on  the  top  of  a  ruin  mound,  and  by  our  position 
invited  plundering  by  the  neighboring  natives. 

We  made  a  contract  with  Berdi  to  build  us  huts  like 
those  of  the  country,  made  of  bunches  of  reeds  arched 
together,  the  whole  covered  with  palm-leaf  mats.  Berdi 
had  been  the  first  to  welcome  us,  and  he  occupied  the 
camp  nearest  to  us  on  the  south,  hence  he  secured  the 
contract.  He  was  a  bright,  cheery  fellow,  short,  and 
rather  stout,  and  overflowing  with  energy  and  animal 
spirits.  Our  camp  was  so  mapped  out  as  to  form  an 
almost  square  enclosure,  with  our  tents  in  the  centre. 
There  Avas  a  hut  for  our  commissioner,  Bedry  Bey ;  a  hut 
for  our  guards;  a  stable  for  our  horses;  a  kitchen  and 
dining-room,  with  storeroom  attached  for  food  and  equip- 
ments, as  well  as  for  antiquities ;  a  hut  for  Haynes,  who 
preferred  that  to  a  tent,  and  in  connection  therewith  a 
stable  for  his  horse,  from  which  he  could  not  endure  to 
be  separated,  and  a  photographic  workroom.  Field, 
Noorian,  Harper,  Hilprecht,  and  I  occupied  tents  in  the 
centre  of  the  enclosure.  Later,  another  tent  was  pitched 
near  the  large  opening  on  the  south  side,  to  accommo- 
date an  additional  force  of  zaptiehs,  and  a  small  open 
tent  was  placed  there  to  act  as  a  guest  room.  One  of  the 
mistakes  of  our  first  year  was  that  we  provided  no  muthif, 
or  guest  house,  in  which  to  receive  the  guests  who  might 
visit  us.  The  small  tent  which  we  placed  at  the  opening 
of  the  camp  was  not  satisfactory,  and  no  self-respecting 
sheikh  would  consent  to  be  received  there.  The  conse- 
quence was  that  they  overran  our  private  tents,  sat  on 
our  beds,  explored  our  goods,  fingered  our  firearms,  and 
filled  our  clothes  with  fleas. 

While  we  were  building  the  camp.  Field  was  hard  at 
work  making  a  topographical  plan  of  the  mounds,  so  that 
we  might  commence  excavations  immediately.     I  was  for 


236  A'IFPi'R. 

the  most  part  engaged  in  receiving  visitors  and  arranging 
our  diplomatic  relations.  Toward  the  middle  of  the  first 
morning  Bedry  arrived  with  the  Mudir  of  Affech.  Ale- 
kota  also  appeared.  He  turned  out  to  be  a  thorough 
beggar,  asking  for  everything  that  he  saw.  In  the  matter 
of  dealing  Avith  the  Arabs,  I  was  compelled  to  trust  en- 
tirely to  the  experience  of  Noorian  and  Haynes,  who 
had  themselves  had  very  little.  We  had  not  brought 
much  with  us  in  the  way  of  presents.  What  we  had  was 
in  the  form  of  abbayehs  and  red  Arab  boots.  I  gave 
]\Iekota,  by  Xoorian's  advice,  an  abbayeh  and  a  gold  lira. 
When  I  think  of  it,  I  am  surprised  that  this  great  man 
should  have  consented  to  accept  so  small  a  gift.  (He 
did,  in  fact,  afterwards  feel  that  he  had  demeaned  him- 
self by  taking  the  lira,  and  endeavored  to  return  it.)  His 
acceptance  of  the  gift  was  supposed  to  place  us  under 
his  protection,  and  as  he  was  the  representative  of  his 
father,  Hajji  Tarfa,  in  the  latter's  absence,  we  were  con- 
structively under  the  protection  of  that  great  chief. 
Bedry  wished  me  to  have  ^lekota  and  some  of  his  men 
live  with  us  on  the  mounds  to  protect  us,  but,  with  the 
advice  of  Haynes  and  Noorian,  I  refused  this  guard  on 
the  ground  that  they  would  be  a  great  burden  and  ex- 
pense, and  would  want  everything  we  owned.  The  camp 
was  fairly  overrun  with  Arabs,  curious  to  see  the  foreign- 
ers and  their  strange  things,  all  that  day.  That  night 
Field  completed  by  hard  work  a  hasty  and  incorrect  plan 
of  the  mounds,  which  was  accepted  by  Bedry  as  fulfilling 
the  requirements  of  the  law  regarding  the  topographical 
plan. 

Saturday,  the  2d,  we  were  again  overrun  with  armed 
Arabs,  including  the  all-asking  Mekota.  It  was  impos- 
sible to  keep  them  out  of  any  place,  and  so  numerous 
were  they  that,  had  they  so  wished,  they  could  easily  have 
wiped  out  all  our  little  party.  Bedry  was  seriously 
alarmed  at  their  appearance  and  their  numbers,  and  had 
an  attack  of  fever,  due  in  part  to  fright.      He  did  not  re- 


AlTccli  Arab  building  a  Hut  uf  Kceds  and  Mats. 


NIPPUR  AT  LAST.  237 

quite  Berdi's  Arabs  liberally  enough  for  their  work  for 
him,  in  consequence  of  which  they  danced  a  war-dance 
in  front  of  his  cabin,  singing  threatening  and  uncompli- 
mentary songs,  which  added  greatly  to  his  terror.  He 
begged  hard  that  we  would  arrange  with  INIekota  to 
accept  from  him  Arab  guards,  but  this  we  all  believed  it 
unwise  to  do. 

Mustafa,  our  head  man,  and  a  zaptieh  were  sent  off  to 
Diwanieh  early  in  the  morning,  carrying  Field's  map  and 
a  telegram  from  Bedry  to  the  Governor-General  accepting 
the  same.  They  were  also  to  buy  straw  for  the  horses 
and  mules,  for  none  was  to  be  had  at  Affech.  The  kit- 
chen, dining-room,  storeroom,  and  stable  were  completed 
by  evening  of  that  day.  Both  that  day  and  the  preced- 
ing we  had  a  high,  cold  wind  and  quantities  of  dust,  but 
the  sun  was  very  hot.  That  night  there  set  in  a  violent 
storm  of  wind  and  rain,  which  lasted  until  Monday  morn- 
ing. The  weather  became  very  cold,  and  the  whole  camp 
was  completely  demoralized.  It  was  impossible  to  get  a 
pleasant  word  or  a  pleasant  look  from  anyone.  The 
stable  was  about  blown  down  in  the  storm,  so  that  it  had 
to  be  rebuilt.  The  dining-room  fell  to  leaking  badly. 
The  kitchen  was  in  such  a  state  that  the  cook  could 
scarcely  cook,  and  the  only  comfortable  place  was  bed. 
Monday  began  cold  and  unpleasant,  but  cleared  up  beau- 
tifully, so  that  before  the  end  of  it  the  damages  done 
by  the  storm  were  repaired,  and  much  additional  work 
completed. 

Mustafa  and  the  zaptieh  returned  from  Diwanieh  on 
Tuesday,  reporting  the  country  through  which  they  had 
come  as  much  disturbed.  They  brought  the  mail,  and 
also  a  despatch  authorizing  us  to  commence  excavations. 
That  day  saw  almost  the  entire  work  of  camp-building 
completed.  We  were  again  visited  by  the  Mudir  and 
Mekota,  with  a  number  of  the  notables  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  the  more  distinguished  of  Mekota's  tribesmen, 
all  of  whom  we  were  compelled  to  feed.     We  were  over- 


238  NIPPUR. 

run  with  armed  Arabs  all  day,  and  in  the  afternoon 
occurred  an  incident  which  might  have  closed  the  expe- 
dition with  disaster  before  it  had  well  begun. 

Some  of  the  el-Behahtha  Arabs  came  to  visit  us.  They 
claimed  that  Nippur  was  within  their  territory.  They 
had  taken  care  of  Layard  at  the  time  of  his  excavations, 
and  consequently  regarded  themselves  as  having  a  pre- 
scriptive right  to  take  care  of  us,  and  resented  deeply  our 
pre-emption  by  the  el-Hamza.  Sharp  words  were  ex- 
changed between  them  and  Berdi's  men,  who  were  build- 
ing our  camp.  Suddenly  both  parties  flew  to  arms  and 
began  to  dance  war-dances,  the  el-Behahtha  just  to  the 
west  of  our  camp,  and  the  el-Hamza  to  the  south.  Be- 
tween the  two  was  a  deep  ravine,  the  way  around  which 
was  through  the  camp.  The  method  of  the  Arab  war- 
dance  is  very  curious  and  interesting,  when  you  have  no 
personal  stake  in  the  matter.  The  sheikh,  or  some 
prominent  member  of  the  tribe,  brandishing  a  spear  or 
gun  in  his  right  hand,  springs  violently  into  the  centre  of 
the  crowd,  first  rushing  forward  and  then  leaping  up  and 
down,  and  chants  some  sentence  appropriate  to  the  occa- 
sion, which  he  composes  for  the  purpose.  All  his  fol- 
lowers take  up  this  sentence,  chanting  it  over  and  over, 
leaping  up  and  down  violently,  turning  round  and  round, 
and  brandishing  their  spears  or  guns  in  the  air.  Now  and 
then  some  one  fires  a  pistol  or  gun  to  increase  the  noise 
and  excitement.  After  a  while  the  sheikh,  or  some  one 
else,  having  thought  out  a  new  sentence,  rushes  into  the 
midst  of  the  crowd  and  chants  that  in  the  same  way  as 
before,  whereupon  it  is  taken  up  in  the  same  manner.  A 
great  sheikh,  like  Mekota,  will  seldom  dance  himself, 
but,  after  having  set  his  followers  going,  stands  to  one 
side  and  watches  them  until  he  is  ready  to  give  them  a 
new  song.  Berdi  acted  more  like  a  common  tribesman, 
and  one  could  perceive  no  difference  between  him  and  his. 
men,  either  in  conduct  or  appearance. 

Realizing  that  if  the  war-dances  were  not  checked,  the 


NIPPUR  AT  LAST.  239 

matter  might  become  very  serious,  I  summoned  Berdi 
and  bade  him  make  his  men  stop  that  singing.  I  told 
him  that  he  was  our  friend,  and  that  we  had  contracted 
with  him  to  build  our  huts.  We  proposed  to  continue 
under  his  protection,  but  in  order  to  do  so,  we  must  see 
that  he  did  not  provoke  difficulties  which  would  render 
our  stay  at  Nippur  impossible.  He  agreed  to  check  his 
men,  and  went  off  professedly  for  that  purpose,  but  as 
soon  as  he  had  joined  them  he  commenced  dancing  as 
violently  as  the  best,  and  leading  them  in  songs  in  defi- 
ance of  the  el-Behahtha.  I  sent  for  him  once  more,  and 
remonstrated  with  him  for  his  failure  to  do  what  he  had 
undertaken  to  do.  He  was  pleasant  and  merry,  and 
w^ent  back  smiling  and  promising  to  quiet  his  men.  But 
as  soon  as  he  reached  them  he  fell  a-dancing  and  singing 
as  before.  To  a  third  message  he  returned  a  fierce  and 
indignant  reply  that  he  could  not  and  would  not  stop  his 
men  so  long  as  the  el-Behahtha  were  dancing  there  and 
hurling  defiance  at  him,  and  that  I  should  make  them 
stop  and  drive  them  from  the  mound  if  I  wished  his  men 
to  be  quiet.  The  el-Behahtha  had  perpetrated  a  taunt 
which  enraged  him  beyond  control.  It  was:  "  Matches 
in  his  beard  who  contradicts  us,"  i.e.,  may  the  beard  of 
him  who  opposes  us  be  burned, — a  most  insulting  song, 
in  view  of  the  sacredness  of  the  beard. 

It  was  evident  that  something  must  be  done  at  once; 
therefore,  taking  Berdi  at  his  word,  I  started  to  go  to 
the  el-Behahtha,  and  called  Noorian  to  go  with  me  and 
interpret.  He  realized  the  danger  of  such  a  course  much 
more  than  I  did,  as  he  understood  all  that  the  tribesmen 
were  saying  to  one  another.  I  realized  only  the  danger 
in  which  we  were  in  case  the  dancing  developed  into 
fighting,  as  it  seemed  likely  to  do.  At  the  same  time, 
the  whole  situation  appeared  to  me  intensely  ridiculous. 
The  Arabs  were  like  so  many  little  children,  and  I  felt 
very  much  as  I  should  were  I  to  find  two  bands  of  street 
lads  calling  names  at  one  another.     I  was  distinctly  their 


240  NIPPUR. 

master  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  I  was  a  grown-up  man 
and  they  children,  and  I  felt  no  hesitancy  therefore  in 
going  to  the  el-Behahtha,  and  a  little  irritation  at  Noori- 
an's  refusal.  I  told  him  that  if  he  wished  he  might  stay 
behind,  in  which  case  I  should  go  alone.  As  I  started 
out  of  the  camp,  one  of  our  workmen  threw  himself  in 
front  of  me,  blocking  my  way,  and  drawing  his  hand 
across  his  throat,  a  pantomime  meant  to  tell  me  that  the 
el-Behahtha  would  certainly  kill  me  if  I  went.  I  burst 
out  laughing,  and  pushed  him  to  one  side,  telling  him 
that  they  would  do  nothing  of  the  sort.  Noorian,  who 
was  anything  but  a  coward,  seeing  that  I  was  determined 
to  go,  joined  me,  and  entered  into  my  mood  of  regarding 
it  all  as  a  joke.  I  called  upon  the  el-Behahtha  to  stop 
that  dancing,  and  go  down  off  the  mound.  I  told  them 
that  I  did  not  want  them  to  make  a  muss  and  litter  about 
the  camp,  and  that  if  they  wanted  to  fight,  and  would  go 
down  on  the  plain,  I  would  send  the  whole  el-Hamza 
tribe  after  them.  I  caught  hold  of  one  or  two  of  them 
and  actually  began  to  shove  them  along  in  front  of  me. 
Some  made  threatening  gestures  with  their  weapons,  but 
I  took  their  threats  as  jokes,  and  treated  them  accord- 
ingly. Noorian  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  matter 
admirably,  and  interpreted  my  little  jokes  far  better  than 
I  made  them,  so  that  soon  the  whole  party  of  us  were 
roaring  with  laughter,  and  we  were  successfully  driving 
the  Arabs  down  the  hill.  It  was  fortunate  that  I  in  my 
ignorance  treated  the  matter  in  the  way  I  did,  and  that 
we  succeeded  in  making  the  Arabs  see  the  joke.  The 
next  day  the  Behahtha  returned  in  force,  accompanied 
by  an  imam, — sure  sign  of  mischief, — for  the  purpose  of 
attacking  the  Hamza,  but  fortunately  the  latter  did  not 
appear.  A  day  or  two  later  war  broke  out  between 
them,  and  several  men  were  killed.  During  the  whole 
time  of  our  stay  at  Nippur  the  bringing  together  of  the 
Behahtha  and  the  Hamza  was  extremely  dangerous,  and 


NIPPUR   AT  LAST.  24 1 

war  was  constantly  breaking  out  between  the  two  tribes. 

Digging  trenches  for  draining,  and  the  Hke,  in  connec- 
tion with  our  camp,  brought  us  on  Monday  and  Tuesday 
a  few  remains  of  antiquity,  such  as  inscribed  bricks,  a 
medical  or  magic  bowl  with  a  Jewish  inscription,  a  couple 
of  fragments  of  inscribed  stones,  two  large  earthen  vases, 
and  an  earthen  cofifin.  One  of  the  vases  was  found  in  my 
tent.  There  was  a  slight  inequality  in  the  floor  of  the 
tent,  and  when  the  men  undertook  to  level  it,  they  dis- 
covered that  it  was  caused  by  a  large  earthen  vase,  some 
three  feet  in  height.  This  lay  upon  its  side,  and  had 
been  used  as  a  cofifin,  but  there  was  nothing  inside  except 
earth  and  some  fragments  of  bones.  It  was  removed 
intact.  In  front  of  Field's  tent  an  earthen  cof^n  of  urn 
shape  was  dug  out.  This  was  begged  from  us  by  the 
husband  of  the  woman  who  baked  our  bread,  and  became 
our  bread-oven.  A  three-handled  funerary  vase,  found 
in  front  of  Harper's  tent,  was  emptied  of  its  contents, 
and  made  a  receptacle  to  hold  water  for  the  men  in  the 
trenches. 

It  was  observed  that  the  men  who  had  been  sent  out  to 
collect  bricks  were  bringing  all  of  the  bricks  from  one 
place,  and  that  a  number  of  these  were  inscribed,  some 
bearing  an  inscription  of  Ur-Gur.  On  investigating  the 
place  where  they  were  digging,  I  found  that  they  had 
discovered  a  brick  tomb  within  which  was  a  clay  coffin  of 
the  Parthian  period.  Not  wishing  to  have  the  tomb  dis- 
turbed in  this  manner,  and  not  being  prepared  as  yet  to 
commence  digging  systematically,  I  stopped  the  work 
and  had  the  hole  refilled,  Avhich  had  one  unfortunate 
result.  Word  got  about  that  we  had  found  treasure,  and 
we  were  disturbed  by  Arabs  prowling  about  after  gold. 
But  I  can  best  describe  the  life  and  work  of  the  first  year 
by  extracts  from  my  personal  diary,  and  from  letters 
written  at  the  time. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   FIRST    CAMPAIGN. 

The  Arabs — Acting  as  Physician — Engaging  Workmen — First  Trenches — 
A  Jealous  Chief — Layard — An  Arab  War — A  Race — Sick  Flocking  to 
be  Healed — Heat  and  Vermin — Inscribed  Tablets — Hebrew  Bowls — 
War  Indemnity — Unwelcome  Reinforcements — An  Arab  Muthif — The 
Mudir  resigns — A  Threat — Sickness — My  Disciples — Heat — The  Kai- 
makam — An  Accident — A  Hurricane — More  Workmen — Flies — Bedry 
and  the  Arabs — A  Wild  Boar — Through  the  Marshes — Delehem — Sup- 
posed Corruption — Immorality — Thieves — Shatt-el-Hai — De  Sarzec — 
Tello — War  and  Love — A  Bedouin  Camp — Yokha — The  Wool  Tax — 
Bismya — Back  at  Nippur — Kurigalzu — A  Tablet  Kiln — Stolen  An- 
tiquities— Increasing  Turbulence — Our  Irade — Suspected  —  Thieves 
Arrested. 

ON  Sunday,  February  loth,  I  wrote  to  Mr.  E.  \V. 
Clark  as  follows : 
These  Arabs  are  not  unlike  our  Indians,  savage^ 
treacherous,  picturesque,  and  the  worst  thieves  and  beg- 
gars I  ever  met.  Day  before  yesterday,  at  the  door  of 
our  camp,  one  man  broke  another's  head  with  his  club, 
and  was  stabbed  in  return.  .  .  .  All  these  Arabs  go 
armed,  and  we  often  have  a  hundred  or  more,  armed  with 
old  flintlocks,  fowling  pieces,  spears,  swords,  clubs,  and 
knives,  sitting  about  the  trenches,  wandering  around  the 
camp,  or  visiting  us  in  our  tents.  Each  man  suspects  his 
neighbor's  intentions.  .  .  .  Our  sudden  appearance 
on  horseback  anywhere  causes  the  shepherds  to  run  their 
flocks  away,  a  feat  to  which  the  latter  seem  well  trained. 
Yesterday  morning,  when  Field  was  out  riding,  two 
shepherds  got  hold  of  him  and  made  signs  of  cutting  his 

242 


0^-^ 
■^    ; 


/ 


■•/ 


'^.- 


=#h^'--.-a 


/.  ,/   -^,, 


jadicate  hills  where  excavations  were 


r 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIG:^. 


243 


throat.  He  was  cool  headed,  and  treated  it  as  a  joke. 
After  work  was  over,  I  rode  out  to  inspect  the  more  dis- 
tant diggings.  As  I  was  approaching  the  little  hill  where 
they  were,  some  shepherds  behind  began  to  shout  at  me, 
and  two  men  on  the  hill  commenced  to  gesture  me  away. 
[Presumably  they  were  searching  for  the  treasure  for 
which  they  supposed  us  to  be  digging,  and  did  not  wish 
to  be  interfered  with.]  I  paid  no  heed,  and  rode  closer, 
whereupon  one  of  them  lev-elled  his  gun  at  me,  I  was 
entirely  unarmed,  and  almost  involuntarily  checked  my 
horse,  but  then  instantly  started  on  again,  concluding 
that  it  would  never  do  to  show  fear  under  any  circum- 
stances, and  surmising  also  that  the  man  was  more  likely 
to  shoot  if  I  turned  back  than  if  I  kept  on.     When  I  was 


ARAB    WOMEN. 


pretty  close  I  saluted  him  [salaam  'aleikumj,  whereupon 
he  lowered  his  gun  and  returned  the  salute  [we  'aleikum 
salaam].  I  think  it  probable  that  in  both  cases  the  men 
were  only  trying  to  frighten  us,  though  if  we  had  showed 
any  fear  they  might  have  done  something.  .  .  .  One 
part  of  my  duties  will  amuse  you,  my  duties  as  physician. 
The  people  come  to  me  from  all  around,  and  I  have  had 
cases  of  bowel  troubles,  liver  troubles,  palsy,  sore  eyes, 
deafness,  etc.,  brought  to  me.  I  feel  their  pulses,  look 
at  their  tongues,  inquire  about  their  symptoms,  prescribe 


244  NIPPUR. 

for  them  rationally  if  I  can,  and,  if  I  cannot,  concoct  a 
vile  mess  that  cannot  hurt  them,  and  order  a  diet.  But 
this  medicine  business  is  becoming  embarrassing.  Yes- 
terday a  chief  brought  me  his  wife  and  sister  to  prescribe 
for.  I  pretended  to  feel  their  pulses  as  usual,  but  really 
I  have  never  succeeded  in  finding  an  Arab  pulse  yet,  for 
their  skin,  even  that  of  the  women  and  children,  is  like 
the  hide  of  oxen.  There  is  no  danger  of  my  falling  in 
love  with  my  female  patients,  for  while  the  men  and 
boys  are  often  fine  looking,  the  women  are  hopelessly 
disfigured  by  nose  rings  and  tattooing. 

"  We  are  slowly  increasing  the  number  of  our  work- 
men. We  began  with  thirty-two,  working  at  three,  four, 
and  five  piastres  a  day  [piastre  equals  four  cents].  We 
took  on  eleven  more  from  the  natives  who  are  coming  in 
asking  for  work,  but  the  chiefs  came  and  reclaimed  them, 
carrying  off  one  man  by  force.  The  reason  for  this  is 
that  the  chiefs  want  to  be  paid  in  addition  to  their  men. 
After  prayers  this  morning,  as  we  do  not  work  on  Sun- 
day, Noorian  and  I  started  for  the  village  of  Berdi,  the 
sub-chief  of  our  region,  to  demand  an  explanation  of  his 
conduct,  and,  if  he  would  not  come  to  terms,  to  go  to 
Sukh-el-Affech,  send  for  Hajji  Tarfa  to  return,  and 
arrange  with  him  and  complain  of  Berdi.  We  met  Berdi 
on  his  way  to  our  camp,  and  he  turned  back  with  us  to 
his  village.  There  he  received  us  in  a  well  made  reed 
and  mat  hut,  his  muthif,  or  guest  house,  which  was  en- 
tered by  a  door  not  above  three  feet  square.  When  I 
■got  in  I  could  see  nothing,  and  he  had  to  guide  me  to  a 
cushion.  When  I  became  accustomed  to  the  light,  I  saw 
that  the  place  was  absolutely  packed  with  men,  armed  as 
>usual.  Later,  he  took  me  into  his  castle,  a  mud  fortress, 
in  which  were  his  reed  huts  for  himself  and  his  family. 
He  arranged  to  give  us  all  the  men  we  want,  we  to  pay 
them  three  piastres  a  day  and  him  five.  We  asked  for 
thirty  men  for  to-morrow,  which  is  as  many  as  we  can 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN.  245 

digest  at  once.  Later,  he  arrived  at  our  camp  to  say 
that  there  are  five  '  brothers,'  chiefs  of  five  sub-divisions 
of  his  tribe,  and  not  to  offend  them  we  must  take  fifty 
men,  so  as  to  divide  equally  among  them.  He  could  not 
see  that  thirty  could  be  divided  among  five  as  equally  as 
fifty." 

The  first  entry  in  my  personal  diary  referring  to  the 
excavations  is  under  date  of — 

"  February  13th,  Wednesday,  1889.  Excavations  were 
commenced  February  6th,  with  the  thirty-two  men 
we  brought  from  Jimjimeh,  The  tomb  found  a  few 
days  before  close  to  the  camp  suggested  a  place  to 
work  (I.)  until  we  got  some  idea  of  what  we  could  do, 
and  how  to  do  it.  We  found  ourselves  in  a  grave- 
yard, in  which  the  cof^ns,  urns,  and  ashes  were  in  all 
possible  positions  at  every  depth.  It  was  interesting 
to  find,  between  one  and  two  metres  beneath  the  sur- 
face, in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  slipper-shaped 
coffins,  inscribed  Hebrew  bowls.  After  a  few  days  the 
work  was  concentrated  about  a  columnar  brick  structure 
in  the  middle  of  a  small  gully,  in  and  around  which 
we  were  digging.  To-day  this  was  brought  into  a  regular 
plan  of  a  trench  through  the  mound.  The  second  or 
third  day,  our  force  being  augmented  by  a  few  of  the 
neighboring  Arabs,  we  commenced  three  trenches  in  a 
small  oval  mound  at  the  northern  end  of  the  canal-like 
depression  (H.),  but  here  we  found  nothing.  At  the 
beginning  of  this  week  we  commenced  excavating  the 
portion  of  the  mounds  known  as  Bint-el-Amir,  or  Prince's 
Daughter,  the  Temple  Hill  (HI.).  At  the  same  time  a 
small  trench  was  begun  across  a  very  large,  deep  gully 
from  where  we  first  began  to  dig,  because  three  frag- 
ments of  inscribed  stone  had  been  found  at  this  point 
(IV.)  Nothing  of  importance  was  found  here,  and  this 
morning  this  spot  was  abandoned.  At  the  same  time  we 
had  begun  work  on  a  large,  isolated  hill  at  the  southern 


246  NIPPUR. 

end  of  the  eastern  mounds  (V.).  Here  have  been  found 
quite  a  number  of  inscribed  tablets.  To-day  we  began 
to  plan  the  reduction  of  the  diggings  to  a  system  by  a 
trench  through  the  graveyard,  another  through  the  Tem- 
ple Hill,  and  a  third  through  the  hill  where  the  tablets 
have  been  found.  The  weather  has  been  fine,  but  the 
sun  at  mid-da}'  is  very  hot,  so  that  the  temperature  of  the 
huts  often  goes  above  eighty  degrees.  We  have  had 
some  trouble  about  workmen,  and  had  to  engage  to  pay 
Berdi  to  let  us  have  men.  The  men  themselves  are  eager 
to  come.  I  have  had  to  act  as  physician  to  all  the  coun- 
try around.  The  female  cases  are  very  embarrassing. 
Two  days  since  a  green-turbaned  descendant  of  the 
Prophet's  family  brought  me  his  wife,  suffering  from 
some  internal  trouble,  and  expressed  his  readiness  to 
have  me  examine  her.  I  contented  myself  with  feeling 
her  pulse,  asking  her  questions,  and  looking  at  her 
tongue.  The  latter  was  an  ordeal.  She  had  to  be 
brought  to  my  tent,  where  she  unveiled  herself  for  a  mo- 
ment, and  put  out  her  tongue  in  the  most  alarmed  man- 
ner possible.  As  her  digestion  was  out  of  order,  I  gave 
her  some  Warburg's  tincture,  whereupon,  to  my  alarm, 
she  fainted  awa}'.  The  skins  of  both  men  and  women 
are  so  thick  that  I  can  scarcely  find  any  pulse  at  all. 

February  14,  1889,  Thursday.  The  Temple  Hill  is 
not  accurately  orientated  north  and  south  at  the  corners, 
but  is  twelve  degrees  off.  Field  has  arranged  to  put  the 
men  in  at  the  southern  corner,  both  on  the  inner  and  the 
outer  walls,  and  when  the  corner  is  found,  the  trench  can 
be  laid  out.  Mekota  and  the  Mudir  came,  accompanied 
as  usual  b}^  a  host  of  followers.  The  former  went  unin- 
vited into  my  tent.  He  is  still  begging  for  my  pistol. 
He  insisted  on  our  coming  to  see  him,  and  offered  to 
take  us  to  see  Delehem,  a  mound  reported  to  be  of  great 
interest.  We  had  to  agree  to  go,  Noorian  and  I,  next 
Sunday.      Later,  Nahab,  a  chief  of  the  Sa'id,  appeared. 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGY.  247 

He  had  treated  the  Wolfe  Expedition  with  great  kind- 
ness four  years  ago,  and  had  hospitably  receiv^ed  and 
brought  to  the  mound  our  party  two  weeks  since,  there- 
fore he  also  had  to  be  hospitably  received.  He  brought 
with  him  five  or  six  men,  and  announced  his  intention  of 
spending  the  night,  and  we  had  much  ado  in  finding  a 
place  for  him,  and  each  of  us  had  to  contribute  some 
article  of  bedding.  He  wanted  to  build  a  hut  and  fur- 
nish twenty  men  for  the  diggings,  that  he,  too,  might 
'  have  a  share  in  this  work.'  As  this  would  cause  trouble 
with  Berdi  and  others,  I  had  to  refuse.  Mekota  is 
already  very  jealous  of  our  relations  with  Berdi,  and  told 
us  an  Arab  proverb  about  entering  by  the  side  of  the 
house  instead  of  by  the  door.  He  also  complained  of 
our  giving  Berdi  a  silk  gaboon  or  gown.  More  tablets 
were  found  to-day,  among  them  some  case  tablets.  They 
have  so  far  all  come  from  the  same  place  (V.). 

"  February  15,  1889,  Friday.  Day  before  yesterday, 
some  Arabs,  whom  Noorian  tried  to  send  away,  danced 
the  war-dance,  and  cried  '  Down  with  the  Christians ! ' 
hence,  the  Mudir's  visit  yesterday.  The  only  two  things 
of  interest  in  the  work  have  been,  first,  the  finding  of  a 
tomb  upon  the  Temple  Hill  at  the  digging  at  base  of 
cone.  This  was  made  simply  of  mud  bricks.  There 
were  found  there  a  few  rings  and  beads.  [It  was  at  this 
point  that  we  found  the  only  faint  traces  of  Layard's 
brief  excavations  thirty-eight  years  before.  I  had  written 
earlier  to  him  for  further  information  about  Nippur  than 
that  published  by  him  in  his  NincvcJi  and  Babylon,  and  also 
for  any  advice  which  he  might  feel  inclined  to  give  about 
excavations  in  Babylonia.  He  replied  that  his  connection 
with  Babylonia  had  long  ceased,  and  that  he  was  ignorant 
of  what  had  been  done  of  late  years.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  his  published  impressions  of  Nippur  were 
not  favorable.  He  almost  died  of  pleurisy  and  fever; 
the    country  was    very    unsafe,    and,    finally,    his    hosts 


248 


NIPPUR. 


wished  to  go  to  war,  and  he  was  compelled  to  leave. 
He  found  nothing  but  coffins  and  jars,  and  concludes  (p. 
562):  "  On  the  whole,  I  am  much  inclined  to  question 
whether  extensive  excavations  carried  on  at  Niffer  would 
produce  any  important  or  interesting  results."]  The  sec- 
ond thing  was  the  finding  of  tombs  in  among  the  tablets 
at  the  southern  hill  (V.).  A  fire  broke  out  in  one  of  the 
Arab  cabins,  but  was  fortunately  put  out  in  time  to  pre- 
vent the  destruction  of  the  camp.  We  ordered  the 
removal  of  the  huts  to  a  little  distance  from  our  camp. 
This  evening  came  a  despatch  to  Bedry  from  the  Wali, 
refusing  the  map  because  not  signed  by  me  or  by  him, 
and  also  reproving  us  for  not  obtaining  guards  from 
Hajji  Tarfa. 


S:n'*'" 


ARAB   workman's   HUT. 

"  February  16,  1889,  Saturday.  They  are  still  finding 
fragments  of  tablets  at  V.,  the  southern  hill.  At  I.,  by 
the  columns  of  the  building,  we  found  another  slipper- 
shaped  coffin,  and  the  attempt  was  made  to  get  it  out 
whole,  but  it  went  to  pieces.  There  has  been  some  fight- 
ing to  the  west  of  us,  and  to-day  an  Arab  came  and 
tried  to  persuade  our  Hamza  Arabs  to  go  and  fight. 
Noorian  ordered  him  away,  and  finally  laid  hands  on  him, 
whereupon  he  threatened  Noorian  with  his  gun  and 
knife,  but  the  rest  took  part  against  him. 

"  February  17,  1889,  Sunday.  Ten  men  arrived  to- 
day from  Nahab  to  work  for  us.     We  have  allowed  them 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN.  249 

to  commence,  and  to  build  huts  to  the  west  of  our  camp. 
We  gave  the  men  thirty-eight  piastres  to  buy  a  sheep 
to-day  for  what  they  call  a  sacrifice.  Last  evening  and 
this  evening  they  danced  for  us.  Interest  in  the  dig- 
gings has  stagnated  for  the  last  few  days,  and  the  Temple 
Hill  is  a  hopeless  perplexity.  The  weather  has  become 
very  warm.  After  three  days'  fighting  the  Hamza  have 
killed  three  of  the  Behahtha.  Hajji  Tarfa  was  expected 
back  last  night  to  settle  the  dispute.  The  Mudir  re- 
gretted that  five  hundred  had  not  been  killed,  instead  of 
three,  and  when  I  told  him  that  we  had  been  quiet 
because  the  Arabs  had  been  fighting,  he  devoutly  prayed 
that  they  might  continue  to  fight  for  thirty  days.  He 
took  lunch  with  us,  and  this  time,  unlike  the  last,  heartily 
enjoyed  his  food,  and  ate  pork  and  beans  with  a  relish, 
although  I  am  not  certain  that  he  knew  what  he  was 
eating.  It  seems  that  the  Temple  Hill  is  called  by  the 
Arabs  both  Bint-el-Amir,  and  Kassl  Bint  (Castle  of  the 
Daughter),  and  the  depression  to  the  south  of  it  is  called 
Shatt-en-Nil. 

"  Yesterday,  when  we  were  riding  to  the  north  of  the 
mounds,  an  Arab,  whose  sister  I  had  doctored  a  few  days 
before,  came  out  on  a  mare  and  challenged  us  to  race. 
He  said  that  he  could  pass  us,  and  snatch  off  our  hats. 
I  accepted  his  challenge,  and  Niffer  easily  distanced  his 
mare.  The  sick  still  come  in  crowds.  To-day  the  de- 
scendant of  the  Prophet,  whose  wife  fainted  the  last  time 
I  doctored  her,  came  again,  and  brought  four  chickens 
for  a  present.  His  wife  was  better,  but  wanted  more 
medicine.  A  sheikh  came  from  a  distance  to-day,  and 
brought  me  a  young  man  of  distinction,  son  of  a  former 
head  sheikh  of  distinction,  to  be  physicked.  They  spread 
their  beds  in  our  reception  tent,  and  propose  to  remain 
several  days  to  have  me  '  look  at  the  young  man  many 
times.'  To-day  I  went  through  very  absurd  scenes,  as 
men  followed  me  everywhere, with  their  tongues  lolling  out 


250  NIPPUR. 

of  their  mouths  and  their  hands  extended,  to  have  their 
pulses  felt  and  their  tongues  looked  at.  I  have  given 
out  a  great  deal  of  sulphate  of  magnesia  and  quinine  in 
the  last  few  days.  I  am  surprised  at  the  number  of  peo- 
ple who  come  complaining  that  their  urinary  or  genital 
organs  are  in  a  bad  state.  The  way,  too,  in  which  they 
treat  wounds  and  sores  with  red-hot  irons  is  appalling. 
Yesterday  a  man  came  who  was  putting  iron-rust  into  a 
wound.  Saturday  night  the  Arabs  on  the  hill  had  a  war- 
dance  with  some  of  the  members  of  the  expedition.  We 
were  to  have  gone  to  Mekota  yesterday,  but  the  Mudir 
brought  word  that  he  and  all  of  his  tribe  had  gone  away, 
and  that  only  the  women  were  left  behind. 

I  am  beginning  to  understand  some  things  in  the 
Bible  better  in  consequence  of  my  Oriental  experience. 
The  way  these  poor  miserable  wretches  bring  their  sick 
to  me  reminds  me  of  the  story  of  Jesus,  and  oh,  if  I  could 
only  help  them  a  little  more !  I  never  was  so  directly 
brought  into  contact  with  physical  misery.  And  I  am  so 
powerless  to  relieve  the  really  touching  cases.  Their 
lighter  ailments  alone  I  am  able  to  remedy. 

The  weather  here  is  already  becoming  very  warm. 
The  sun  is  hot,  and  the  winds  ov'erwhelm  us  with  dust. 
Moreover,  flies,  fleas,  and  other  vermin  are  beginning 
to  abound.  But  the  nights  are  wonderful.  From  our 
position  on  these  high  mounds,  looking  out  over  the  flat 
plains,  we  can  see  everything  that  goes  on.  On  all  sides 
at  night  there  are  great  fires,  where  the  Arabs  are  burn- 
ing the  marshes  so  as  to  make  sheep  pasturage.  We  have 
had  only  one  day  of  rain  this  month,  and  the  moon  seems 
to  shine  always.  The  heavens  are  wonderfully  blue  and 
far  away.  There  is  war  just  now  close  to  us  between  our 
sub-tribe  of  the  Affech  and  another  sub-tribe,  but  it  does 
not  seem  to  afl'ect  us. 

Friday,  February  22d.  Night  before  last  Harper  re- 
ported that  among  the  tablets  found  were  some  of  Samsu- 


,n^ii^' 


A  Deep  Trench  on  Tablet  Hill  (V.),  .showing  constructions  of  Xerxes's 
time  above,  and  remains  of  2000  B.C.  below. 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN.  25  I 

Iluna,  Nabonidus,  Cyrus,  and  Cambyses.  This  shows 
that  Nippur  played  a  great  role  longer  than  we  had  sup- 
posed, 2000  to  500  B.C.  In  the  house  of  unburned  bricks 
which  Abbas  is  digging  out  close  to  the  camp  have  been 
found  a  number  of  ordinary  Hebrew  bowls,  and  a  couple 
in  Arabic  letters.  Along  with  these  bowls  have  been 
found  millstones,  playthings,  and  other  utensils  belong- 
ing to  life,  but  so  far  nothing  belonging  to  death.  On 
the  tops  of  the  hills  in  all  that  region  have  been  found 
fragments  of  these  bowls,  but  none  far  below  the  surface. 
A  satisfactory  trench  has  at  last  been  laid  out  on  the 
Temple  Hill,  but  each  day  shows  us  that  we  know  noth- 
ing of  what  is  there.  We  are  always  treated  to  new  sur- 
prises. 

To-day  Bedry  went  to  see  Hajji  Tarfa,  but  the  inter- 
view does  not  seem  to  have  been  satisfactory.  Bedry  is 
very  homesick,  and  has  showed  me  a  letter  from  his  wife. 
She  had  just  been  paid  the  salary  due  up  to  last  August. 
How  can  Turkish  officials  live  without  bribery  ?  Last 
night  and  to-day  have  been  quite  cold  again.  As  to-day 
is  Washington's  Birthday,  we  had  another  war-dance  this 
evening. 

"  February  24th.  Two  of  the  sub-tribes  have  been 
fighting,  and  our  friend  Berdi  and  the  el-Hamza  have 
been  victorious,  killing  three  of  the  el-Behahtha.  The 
result  is  that  the  el-Hamza  must  pay  the  el-Behahtha 
about  $75,  and  from  three  to  six  women.  The  former  is 
blood  money,  the  latter  by  establishing  ties  of  blood  is 
supposed  to  cement  peace.  Such  is  the  practice  in  this 
country.  The  conquerors  pay  the  indemnity.  Hajji 
Tarfa,  the  great  chief,  was  called  home  to  settle  the  dis- 
pute, his  son  Mekota  having  failed  to  do  so.  A  day  or 
two  after  his  arrival  the  Mudir  of  Affech  arrived  here  with 
twenty  zaptiehs,  whom  the  Governor  has  sent  to  guard 
us.  I  protested,  but  was  told  that  one  hundred  more 
were  at  our  command,  and  an  additional  twenty  on  the 


252  NIPPUR. 

march,  I  then  refused  point  blank  to  quarter  or  feed 
them,  as  vvc  had  been  compelled  to  do  with  the  six 
already  with  us.  The  Mudir  said  that  the  Government 
was  bound  to  care  for  them,  not  we;  and  that  if  they 
needed  anything  we  could  send  them  to  him.  We  took 
him  at  his  word,  and  the  poor  fellow  has  had  to  feed 
them  out  of  his  own  pocket  ever  since.  His  salary,  he 
says,  is  nominally  seven  and  a  half  liras  a  month,  and  his 
expenses  thirty-five.  The  zaptiehs  are  much  mortified  at 
their  position,  and  try  to  make  themselves  as  agreeable 
as  possible.  Accordingly,  whenever  they  see  the  Beg,  as 
I  am  called,  they  rise  and  give  the  military  salute,  or  run 
to  hold  my  horse,  or  render  any  service  possible. 

Day  before  yesterday,  Noorian  and  I  went  to  call  on 
Hajji  Tarfa.  His  reception  tent  was  a  fine  large  hut  of 
mats  of  grass  spread  on  arched  columns  of  bundles  of 
reeds  tied  together,  the  universal  house  in  this  country. 
Ikit  this  was  the  largest  and  finest  I  have  ever  seen,  at 
least  sixty  feet  long  and  fifteen  high,  the  roof  a  rich 
mahogany  color  from  the  coffee  fire  constantly  burning  in 
the  middle  of  the  tent.  There  were  eight  coffee  pots  on 
the  smouldering  ashes  of  that  fire.  In  the  largest  they 
cook  the  coffee  first,  then  they  drain  it  off  into  the  next, 
and  so  on  until  they  reach  the  smallest,  or  one  of  the 
smaller.  It  is  slightly  flavored  with  myrrh,  and  only  a 
sip  is  given  you,  in  the  bottom  of  a  tiny  cup.  But  this 
sip  is  repeated  at  irregular  intervals,  so  that  one  ulti- 
mately drinks  a  good  deal  of  strong  coffee.  By  the  fire 
squats  a  slave  who  attends  to  the  coffee.  About  the 
middle  of  the  hut,  where  the  light  was  vague,  as  there 
are  no  windows,  and  the  door  is  so  low  that  you  must 
stoop  to  enter,  sat  the  great  chief,  with  his  back  to  the 
wall,  and  along  the  sides  of  the  tent  squatted  many  other 
lesser  chiefs,  and  innumerable  other  Arabs.  Hajji  re- 
ceived me  with  much  friendliness  and  great  honor,  and  I 
reclined,  since  I  do  not  enjoy  squatting,  by  his  side.     He 


,-^*^' 


x^. 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN.  253 

insisted  that  we  must  eat  with  him,  but  as  pious  Shiite 
Mussulmans  may  not  eat  with  Christians,  our  food  was 
•served  apart.  A  round  mat  of  straw  was  placed  on  the 
ground  in  front  of  us,  on  which  was  set  a  great  bowl  of 
rice,  a  smaller  one  of  mutton,  a  couple  of  bowls  of  lebben, 
or  milk  soured  by  fermentation  through  leaven,  and  two  of 
the  great  flat,  unleavened,  half-cooked  barley  cakes, 
which  they  call  bread.  For  them  was  served  in  like  man- 
ner. They  ate  with  their  fingers,  but  we  used  our  lebben 
spoons  for  the  rice  also,  reserving  our  fingers  for  the 
bread  and  mutton.  It  requires  more  skill  than  we  pos- 
sessed to  eat  rice  with  our  fingers,  without  slobbering,  to 
use  an  unpleasant  but  expressive  word.  After  our  party 
had  eaten  all  they  wished,  others  took  their  places,  and  so 
on  until  nothing  remained.  Everything  was  done  de- 
cently and  in  order,  for  Hajji  Tarfa  maintained  such 
order  as  I  have  not  seen  before  among  the  Arabs,  and, 
indeed,  he  is  the  first  gentleman  I  have  met  among 
them. 

"  The  Mudir  arrived  while  we  were  there,  but  Hajji 
Tarfa  absolutely  ignored  him,  and  afterwards  insulted 
him  by  abusing  the  Turkish  Government  in  his  presence. 
The  Turks  have  no  authority  over  him,  and  stand  in 
much  awe  of  him.  It  is  not  many  years  since  he  killed 
the  Mutessarif  of  Hillah  and  massacred  a  whole  battalion 
-of  soldiers,  and  he  appropriates  regularly  the  taxes  sup- 
posed to  be  due  to  the  government.  But  all  good  Arabs 
are  murderers,  and  even  our  nice  little  Berdi  murdered 
two  of  his  brothers  while  they  slept.  When  we  left, 
Hajji  showed  us  the  honor  of  accompanying  us  to  our 
horses.  The  next  day  the  Mudir  came  to  tell  us  that  he 
had  resigned,  and  was  about  to  leave.  Hajji  Tarfa  had 
driven  him  away. 

"  The  Affech  were  much  irritated  by  the  presence  of 
the  zaptiehs,  and  unfortunately  Bedry  increased  this  irri- 
tation  by  using   zaptiehs   as   guards   and    spies    in    the 


254  NIPPUR. 

trenches,  thus  forcing  them  before  the  Arabs,  and  at  the 
same  time  asserting  in  a  way  peculiarly  odious  to  the 
latter  the  government  ownership  of  the  mounds,  which 
they  called  their  own. 

Hajji  Tarfa  sent  word  that  he  was  coming  to  call 
to-day,  and  we  prepared  to  receive  him ;  but,  later,  a 
messenger  arrived  to  say  that  he  would  come  to  see  us 
to-morrow.  I  have  a  suspicion  that  this  was  done  be- 
cause I  treated  Mekota,  his  son,  in  the  same  way. 

We  are  digging  diligently  with  a  force  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  men ;  but  Nippur  is  an  immense  place, 
and  it  takes  a  long  time  to  find  what  we  want.  We  pay 
our  ordinary  workmen  twelve  cents  a  day,  and  the  skilled 
laborers  sixteen  and  twenty  cents. 

Monday,  March  4th.  We  have  had  two  alarms  this 
week.  Berdi  threatened  to  burn  us  out  and  murder 
Noorian,  because  we  haci  not  taken  all  our  men  from 
him,  and  because  we  had  not  paid  him  a  salary  for  the 
men  we  had  taken.  All  the  soldiers  were  on  guard  one 
night,  and  we  have  been  very  careful  all  the  time.  Berdi 
murdered  two  of  his  brothers  in  their  sleep,  and  is  be- 
lieved to  be  capable  of  an}-thing.  Another  chief,  some 
of  whose  men  we  employ,  heard  of  it,  and  sent  us  word 
that  he  had  told  Berdi  that  if  our  camp  were  burned,  he 
would  make  war  on  him.  Yesterday  and  to-day  Berdi 
has  been  here  professing  that  he  never  said  such  a  thing, 
and  trying  to  win  our  confidence  again.  We  are  not 
afraid  of  a  direct  attack,  but  with  the  greatest  care  which 
we  can  exercise  we  could  not  be  sure  of  preventing 
a  man  from  stealing  up  these  dark  nights  and  applying  a 
match  to  our  inflammable  straw  huts  before  he  could  be 
detected. 

Our  other  alarm  has  been  connected  with  Haynes. 
He  has  been  sleeping  in  a  bad  atmosphere,  as  he  insisted 
on  having  his  horse  at  one  end  of  his  hut  and  his  photo- 
graphic workroom  at  the   other.      By   day,   too,   he   has 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN.  255 

been  in  a  bad  atmosphere,  developing  pictures,  and  tak- 
ing little  or  no  exercise.  Sunday,  there  seemed  to  be 
serious  danger  of  brain  fever  or  typhoid.  His  tempera- 
ture was  over  104°,  and  he  had  not  slept  a  wink  for  two 
nights,  and  the  pain  in  his  head  and  his  back  seemed  to 
be  beyond  his  endurance.  By  evening  we  succeeded  in 
reducing  the  temperature  to  the  normal,  and  relieving  his 
head,  but  he  could  not  sleep  Sunday  night  either,  in 
spite  of  heavy  doses  of  laudanum.  Harper  and  I  sat  up 
with  him.  To-day,  however,  he  was  able  to  get  up. 
He  was  to  have  gone  to  Hillah  to-day  for  money,  and 
insists  that  he  shall  go  on  Wednesday. 

Mekota  has  sent  us  a  number  of  workmen  this  week, 
more  than  we  were  ready  to  receive,  although  we  have 
raised  our  force  to  one  hundred  and  thirty  men.  He  also 
sends  me  a  good  many  sick  people  to  be  doctored. 
Among  others,  there  came  yesterday  some  negresses, 
slaves  of  himself  and  his  father.  One  of  them  had  a 
private  request  to  make.  She  wished  her  master  to  love 
her,  and  she  wished  to  become  enceinte.  Se'id  Ahmed, 
one  of  our  overseers,  relieved  me  of  this  case.  Indeed, 
he  has  undertaken  to  relieve  me  of  a  good  many.  He 
pretends  to  be  my  disciple,  it  seems.  He  begged  an  old 
Saturday  Review  a  few  days  since.  This  he  carries  in 
his  pocket  and  pretends  to  consult,  as  he  has  seen  me 
consult  a  nurse  book.  He  also  feels  their  pulses,  and 
makes  them  put  out  their  tongues,  as  he  has  seen  me  do. 
One  of  his  prescriptions  to  a  man  was  like  this:  "  Wash 
yourself  in  hot  water;  eat  mutton,  lebben,  and  milk; 
but  avoid  dates;  keep  warm,  but  do  not  go  out  in  the 
sun."  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  his  good  ofTfices,  too 
many  cases  leak  through  to  his  *  master. '  Among  others, 
I  have  had  one  crazy  boy  brought  to  me,  and  one  woman 
with  tapeworm. 

The  morality  of  the  Arabs  is  very  low,  as  we  have 
had  occasion  to  notice.     As  Havnes  and  Noorian  were 


256  KIFFUi:. 

riding  out  the  other  day  a  young  man  offered  them  his 
sister  for  a  few  metalliks,  and  Bedry  tells  me  that  even  in 
a  city  Hke  Hillah,  quite  respectable  Arabs  will  give  their 
daughters  for  a  beshlik. 

"  The  heat  this  week  has  been  excessive,  reaching  98^ 
in  the  tents,  and  the  flies  are  almost  beyond  endurance. 
I  have  had  the  open  lumberman's  tent  pitched  in  front  of 
mine,  so  as  to  make  a  sort  of  selamlik  in  which  to  receive 
people.  There  has  been  little  of  interest  found  in  the 
last  week,  but  the  holes  are  beginning  to  look  very  deep 
and  large. 

"  Thursday,  March  14th.  One  day  last  week  in  III., 
in  the  front  room,  underneath  a  mud  brick  wall,  about 
two  metres  and  a  half  below  the  surface,  we  dug  out  a 
live  toad.  He  seemed  torpid  and  inactive.  Scorpions 
and  snakes  have  begun  to  appear.  The  temperature  one 
day  last  week  reached  102°  in  my  tent,  and  105°  in 
Field's.  This,  accompanied  with  high  winds  and  clouds 
of  dust,  and  swarms  of  flies,  made  that  week  a  very  trying 
one;  but  this  week  has  been  delightful,  and  at  night  and 
early  morning  even  a  trifle  too  cold.  Haynes  left  Friday 
morning  for  Hillah.  He  was  much  improved,  and  felt 
that  the  trip  would  really  do  him  good.  I  suffered  the 
first  part  of  last  week  from  pangs  of  toothache.  By 
Thursday  the  toothache  became  almost  unendurable,  the 
whole  jaw  and  throat  were  sore,  and  I  could  scarcely  eat. 
This  continued  Friday  and  Saturday.  The  latter  day  a 
violent  sick  headache  set  in,  and  I  had  to  go  to  bed  be- 
fore dinner.  Since  then  I  have  been  regaining  tone. 
Hilprecht  is  looking  miserable,  and  feeling  so,  and  this 
week  both  he  and  Harper  have  had  fever  very  lightly. 
Field,  owing  to  his  out-of-doors  life,  is  in  splendid  con- 
dition. 

This  week  we  decided  to  increase  our  force  by  seven 
extra  gangs  on  the  City  of  the  Living  (V.),  in  order  to 
lay  bare  as  much  of  the  mound  as  possible.     Last  week 


/ 


^    -A 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN. 


257 


we  had  another  visit  from  Mekota,  who  brought  with  him 
the  new  Mudir,  one  of  the  notables  of  Hillah,  an  Arab, 
of  the  Persian  sect  of  Mussuhnans.  Mekota  begged  as 
usual  The  Mudir  asked  me  to  write  a  letter  to  the  Mu- 
tessarif,  expressing  my  satisfaction  with  his  appointment. 
I  excused  myself  from  doing  this.  They  have  a  very 
exalted  idea  of  my  importance. 

"  Saturday,  the  Kaimakam  of  Diwanieh  arrived  to  pay 
us    a  visit,    and    stayed    until    Sunday    afternoon.       We 
treated  him  as  well  as  we  knew  how,  and  I  think  that  he 
enjoyed  the  visit.     At  first  he  would  not  eat  with  us,  for 
fear  of  wild  boars  or  pork,  but  on  Sunday  he  changed  his 
mind,  after  he  had  seen  more  of  us.      He  asked  permis- 
sion to  carry  off  ten  of  the  new  zaptiehs,  and  I  told  him 
he  was  welcome  to  all,    but  they  are  still   here.      They 
have  built  a  little  prayer  platform    beyond   their   tents. 
Sunday  afternoon,  when  he  was  going  away,  Harper  and 
I  escorted  him  some  distance,  and  then  took  a  ride  to  the 
northward  to  search  for  the  bed  of  the  Shatt-en-Nil.     As 
I  was  riding  at  a  brisk  gallop,  Niffer's  forefoot  went  down 
in  the  sand  and  he  fell  on  his  head.      I  held  fast,  but, 
fortunately,  for  it  just  saved  Niffer  from  a  somersault, 
the  girths  broke,  and  saddle  and  I  were  shot  eight  or  ten 
feet  forward  into  the  soft  sand,  and  Niffer  rolled  over  on 
his  side.      I  jumped  up  to  catch  him,  but  the  wind  was 
knocked  out  of  me,  and   I   fell  over  again,  and  Niffer  ran 
away.      Harper  went  after  him,  but  Niffer  charged  him, 
and  finally  chased  him  into  camp  on  a  wild  run.     Arrived 
there,  he  demolished  the  captain's  tent,  the  captain  him- 
self   having   a    narrow  escape.      Then    he    attacked    the 
other  horses,  but  was  caught,  and   Noorian  had  a  saddle 
on  him  in  a  jiffv.  and  Rework  on  a  spare  horse,  and  was 
out  on  the  gallop  after  me.      Bedry  ordered  all  the  zap- 
tiehs to  follow,  but  Field  and   Harper  managed  to  stop 
them  before  they  had  gone  far.      However,  Bedry  and  a 
posse   of   armed   Arabs  joined   the  hunt.       I   was   found 


VOL.  I— 17 


258  NIPPUR. 

wandering  about  with  my  saddle  on  my  back,  trying  to 
avoid  some  suspicious-looking  Arabs.  On  the  way  back 
we  came  to  a  large  canal  bed,  which  the  Arabs  said  was 
the  Shatt-en-Nil, 

"  Yesterday  Harper  and  I  rode  out  to  two  small 
mounds  about  an  hour  and  a  half  away  to  the  northeast, 
called  Abu  Jowan,  or  Father  of  Millstones.  They  seem 
unimportant.  There  are  several  large  canal  beds  in  the 
neighborhood.  One  we  followed  westward,  but  it  dis- 
appeared about  half  an  hour  from  Xippur.  I  think  it 
originally  went  on  and  joined  the  Shatt-en-Nil  to  the 
north  of  the  mound.  We  passed  several  cross  canals  on 
the  way.  The  sandhills  lie  to  the  north  and  northeast  of 
us,  they  are  of  fine  sea  sand,  and  constantly  change  shape 
as  blown  about  by  the  wind.  The  Euphrates  seems  to 
be  rising,  and  the  water  is  approaching  the  mound  on  the 
south  and  west.  Nothing  of  any  importance  has  been 
found  since  my  last  writing.  Constructions  on  the  Temple 
Hill  are  becoming  more  interesting  than  ever,  but  also 
more  perplexing.  There  are  tombs  found  everj-where  in 
the  other  trenches. 

"  March  iSth.  We  are  in  the  midst  of  the  worst  hur- 
ricane but  one  I  ever  saw ;  and  that  lasted  only  a  few 
minutes,  while  this  has  gone  on  for  hours.  Yesterday,. 
Sunday,  the  wind  blew  very  hard  and  very  hot  all  day, 
and  the  dust  was  suffocating.  It  continued  all  night, 
choking  and  burning  one  at  the  same  time.  This  morn- 
ing it  blew  a  gale.  By  noon  it  was  a  hurricane.  One 
could  scarcely  make  head  against  the  wind  at  all,  and  the 
air  was  so  full  of  dust  that  the  plain  was  not  visible. 
You  could  not  walk  against  the  wind  and  see,  and  the 
amount  of  dust  in  the  tents  and  huts  was  almost  incredi- 
ble. Shortly  after  noon  the  tents  began  to  go.  Har- 
per's was  the  first,  and  three  soldiers'  tents  followed  suit, 
leaving  twenty-one  of  our  guard  houseless.  Then  my 
ridgepole  snapped.      I  had  mine  and   Hilprecht's  tents 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN.  259 

eased  by  throwing  off  the  flies,  and  putting  casting-ropes 
outside  to  support  the  poles.  My  ridgepole  was  spliced 
after  a  fashion,  or  rather  the  ends  were  fastened  by  a 
rope.  In  the  meantime  a  number  of  men  were  put  on  to 
save  the  huts  by  refastening  the  mats  and  propping  the 
poles  within  to  windward.  But  the  stables  went  to 
wreck,  and  the  storeroom  and  dining-room  are  in  a  bad 
condition.  Somewhere  about  10  r.M.,  the  storm  was 
still  raging,  when  there  came  a  single  lightningless  thun- 
derclap,— as  though  it  had  been  a  divine  command,  the 
Hebrew  "  voice  of  Yahweh,"  and  the  wind  was  still  in- 
stantly. I  had  the  camp  aroused  in  a  minute  to  rehabili- 
tate the  fallen  tents,  restore  the  flies,  and  get  ready  for 
rain  in  general ;  and  now  the  rain  has  begun,  accompanied 
by  a  stiff  cold  wind  from  the  north,  in  refreshing  contrast 
to  the  burning  sirocco  of  the  last  few  days. 

The  storm  has  temporarily  put  a  stop  to  a  war  be- 
tween some  of  our  neighbors.  Sunday  evening  a  village 
was  burned  in  a  war  between  two  hostile  sections  of  the 
AfTech.  The  village  was  close  to  the  mound,  and  the 
illumination  w^as  a  fine  one. 

Tuesday,  March  21st.  Wednesday  morning  of  last 
week  a  boat  arrived  from  Hillah,  bringing  Haynes's  pur- 
chases, among  which  were  fruit  and  green  things,  greatly 
needed  by  all.  The  water  in  the  swamps  is  rising, 
and  a  boat  can  now  come  quite  close  to  the  mound. 
This  boat  was  large,  and  a  sloop.  It  was  engaged  to 
return  April  25th  to  take  us  away.  Going  over  the  ac- 
counts, I  found  that  we  could  increase  the  workmen  by 
one  hundred  and  ten  men  until  the  middle  of  April. 
I  therefore  arranged  to  put  on  as  rapidly  as  possible 
twenty  more  gangs,  five  on  the  City  of  the  Living,  and 
fifteen  on  the  Tem.ple  Hill.  To-day  thirteen  of  the 
twenty-four  extra  zaptiehs  were  recalled  by  the  Govern- 
ment. Yesterday  a  piece  of  a  wall  fell  on  a  man  at  the 
Temple   Hill,  hurting  him  quite  badly.     The  workmen 


26o  NIPPUR. 

ran  from  the  trenches  on  all  sides,  brandishing  their  tools. 
Bedry  thought  it  was  an  attack  by  the  Arabs,  and  was  so 
frightened  that  he  became  ill.  Nothing  of  any  import- 
ance has  been  found  of  late.  Interest,  however,  centres 
about  the  Temple  Hill,  where  new  and  more  perplexing 
constructions  are  constantly  occurring,  and  the  City  of 
the  Living.  A  great  number  of  tablet  fragments  were 
found  to-day  at  the  latter  place,  more  than  were  ever 
found  before  in  one  day.  Tombs  are  still  very  numerous 
everywhere,  and  at  all  depths. 

"  March  24th.  The  thermometer  in  my  tent  is  92°, 
and  there  are  at  least  ten  flies  for  each  degree  of  the 
thermometer.  I  do  not  remember  the  flies  in  America  as 
having  long  stings,  but  these  fellows  bite  worse  than 
mosquitoes,  driving  what  feels  like  the  end  of  a  sword 
right  through  my  clothes. 

"  Thursday,  March  28th.  We  are  in  the  midst  of 
another  storm,  almost  burying  us  in  the  dust.  It  began 
suddenly  about  noon.  One  minute  it  was  almost  calm, 
and  the  next  the  dust  was  whirling  so  that  one  could 
hardly  see.  In  a  couple  of  hours  the  plain  was  invisible. 
I  went  out  to  ride  and  almost  lost  the  mound,  the  air  was 
so  thick.  While  we  were  at  dinner  there  came  an  alarm  of 
fire.  It  turned  out  to  be  nothing  but  a  fire  lighted  in  one 
of  the  huts  to  cook  by.  A  quarrel  ensued  among  the 
Arabs,  and  I  found  that  Bedry  was  meddling  in  it  as 
usual.  A  little  later  some  of  them  commenced  a  war 
dance,  singing:  '  The  last  day  is  come!  '  He  was  ofT 
in  a  moment,  interfering  again.  Yesterday  there  was  a 
quarrel  between  two  families,  and  one  woman  wished  to 
stab  a  man.  Indirectly  Bedry  helped  that  on.  A  few 
days  since  an  armed  Arab  came  and  asked  for  water  at 
one  of  the  huts.  A  soldier  ordered  him  away,  where- 
upon he  told  the  soldier  that  he  came  to  see  the  giaours, 
and  did  not  estimate  the  soldier  or  the  Turkish  authori- 
ties as  much  as  a .     At  this  the  soldier  threatened 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN.  26 1 

him,  and  the  Arab  ran  off  a  Httle  distance  and  then 
turned  and  pointed  his  gun  at  the  soldier.  The  latter 
fired  at  once,  into  the  air  he  said,  but  the  place  where  the 
bullet  struck  was  suspicious.  However,  the  workmen 
ran  out  of  the  trenches  and  threw  stones  at  the  Arab, 
and  some  of  Hajji  Tarfa's  men  are  said  to  have  followed 
him  and  given  him  a  beating  for  causing  a  disturbance. 
It  seems  that  what  the  Arabs  sung  the  other  night  was 
that  now  the  giaours  had  come  the  Wali  could  not  come 
here.  The  Arabs  all  around  seem  to  regard  us  with  the 
greatest  favor. 

"  To-day  we  obtained  a  wild  boar  which  they  had  shot 
in  the  marshes.  The  flesh  was  very  good,  but  more  like 
beef  than  like  swine's  flesh.  Of  course,  none  would 
touch  a  hand  to  it  excepting  our  own  men.  It  is  amus- 
ing to  see  how  these  dirty  Arabs,  whom  to  touch  is  to 
soil  one's  self,  regard  us  as  unclean.  Field  reports  that 
they  will  not  let  him  drink  out  of  their  tins  of  water  in 
the  trenches.  Haynes  has  fever  again  to-night.  His 
health  is  not  satisfactory.  Hilprecht  also  shows  wear. 
Harper  suffers  from  fleas  and  consequent  loss  of  sleep. 
Field  is  in  the  best  condition.  The  weather  for  the  last 
few  days  has  been  intensely  hot,  but  I  suppose  that  this 
northerly  storm  will  cool  it.  The  flies  are  almost  intoler- 
able. In  the  last  few  days  a  large  number  of  fragments 
have  been  found  at  the  old  place  in  the  City  of  the 
Living.  The  Temple  Hill  continues  to  present  curious 
developments  in  the  line  of  constructions. 

Sunday,  March  31st.  After  trying  for  some  time  to 
get  off  to  Tello  with  Bedry,  for  the  real  purpose  of  having 
him  away  from  the  diggings  for  a  while,  we  at  last  got 
off  very  suddenly  yesterday  late  in  the  afternoon.  We 
took  a  guide  and  a  muleteer,  and  two  soldiers.  We  rode 
down  to  the  shore  of  the  canal  opposite  Berdi's,  or  Ber- 
dan's,  village,  where  we  took  boats  for  Affech.  By  the 
way,  the  last  time  Berdi  called  on  me  he  politely  offered 


262  NIPPUR. 

to  put  Bedry  out  of  the  way  if  I  would  only  say  the  word. 
Our  boats  were  canoe-shaped,  of  twigs  and  reeds  over- 
laid with  bitumen.  They  were  pushed  with  tamarisk 
poles,  which  were,  of  course,  crooked  and  frail.  The 
day,  like  those  preceding,  had  been  intensely  hot,  so  that 
every  one  was  discouraged  and  anxious  to  stop  work,  to 
•which  I  would  not  consent  before  the  end  of  April.  On 
the-  canals  it  was  lovely.  They  were  full  of  white  beds 
of  fragrant  ranunculus,  through  which  we  poled.  Frogs 
croaked  on  all  sides,  buffaloes  grunted,  and  birds  flew  up 
out  of  the  high  reeds  through  which  we  passed.  Beyond 
Berdi's  village  w'e  passed  two  more  villages  of  the  el- 
Ifamza,  the  last  being  Mohammed  el  Berjud's  residence. 
Both  of  these,  especially  the  latter,  had  picturesque  and 
refreshing-looking  gardens  of  palms  and  almonds  con- 
nected with  their  mud  castles.  People  came  to  the  bank 
to  ask  who  was  there,  to  which  went  back  the  answer, 
'The  men  from  Nufar. '  'Which?'  'The  Sheikh.' 
Men  were  calling  the  cattle  out  of  the  marshes,  and 
women  were  filling  jars  with  water  from  the  canal. 
Bedry  told  me  that  Hajji  Tarfa's  life  had  been  threat- 
ened because  of  his  friendly  relations  with  the  govern- 
m.ent,  and  that  that  was  the  main  reason  why  he  lived  in 
the  Shamieh.  At  this  season,  especially,  he  said,  the 
Affech  set  the  government  at  defiance,  because,  the 
water  having  filled  their  swamps  and  canals,  their  dwell- 
ings were  practically  inaccessible.  There  were  but  few 
mosquitoes  in  the  marshes,  the  flies  had  gone  to  bed, 
and  the  atmosphere  was  delicious. 

"  We  reached  Affech  after  dark,  and  went  to  the  muthif 
of  Shamir,  Hajji  Tarfa's  brother.  Apparently  he  was 
not  expecting  us.  There  was  no  fire  in  his  selamlik,  no 
coffee,  no  guests,  and  only  a  miserable  little  lamp  to  give 
light.  Pretty  soon,  however,  guests  began  to  assemble, 
but  no  supper  appeared  until  half-past  ten.  At  first  we 
thought  it  was  intentional,  but  this  turned  out  not  to  be  the 


THE   FIRST   CAMPAICX.  263 

case,  and  he  was  much  mortified  at  the  seeming  lack  of 
hospitality.  When  it  came  it  was  bountiful  and  good — 
chicken,  rice,  pilau,  and  lebben.  As  no  one  could  pol- 
lute himself  by  eating  with  me,  I  had  the  good  fortune 
to  have  a  whole  chicken,  a  bowl  of  lebben,  and  a  dish  of 
pilau  to  myself.  We  were  not  allowed  to  go  to  bed  until 
about  midnight,  and  then  there  were  plenty  of  fleas,  but 
I  slept  soundly,  A  cold  wind  arose  during  the  night, 
and  a  little  rain  fell.  There  were  nine  coffeepots  on  the 
fire,  which  was  burning  when  I  awoke,  and  all  our  break- 
fast was  two  cups  of  coffee.  Every  one  wished  to  be 
doctored  before  I  left,  and  as  we  were  riding  out  of  the 
village  a  man  left  his  work  in  the  field,  and  came  running 
to  beg  me  to  look  at  his  sick  wife.  I  was  astonished  at 
the  activities  of  agriculture  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood of  the  village.  The  fields  were  flooded,  and  men 
were  plowing  with  cows,  and  one  man  even  with  a  horse. 
This  is  the  pasturage  season,  and  it  was  very  difificult  to 
obtain  any  barley  for  our  horses,  which  had  been  ridden 
down  by  the  soldiers  and  a  muleteer. 

At  Affech,  we  increased  our  force  by  one  guide  and 
two  beasts.  I  went  somewhat  out  of  my  way  to  visit 
Delehem,  which  Dr,  Ward  so  much  regretted  not  having 
seen.  He  missed  little,  for  it  is  only  a  grave  mound,  of 
the  same  general  character  as  Umm-el-Akarib,  but  much 
smaller.  Abu  Erij  was  more  extensive,  but  lower. 
There  is  a  ziaret  on  the  highest  point  of  this.  The  day 
was  delightfully  cool,  a  refreshing  breeze  blowing  all  the 
time,  and  now  and  then  violent  gusts  blowing  over  us,  or 
flying  by  without  touching  us,  but  raising  the  dust  in 
eddies.  We  spent  about  half  an  hour  drinking  lebben  in 
an  encampment  of  the  el-Budeir,  and  examining  the 
beads  of  the  women  in  search  of  antiquities.  We  only 
secured  a  couple  of  small  Sassanian  seals,  for  which  we 
paid  three  and  a  half  piastres.  The  country  was  full  of 
camels,   sheep,   and  a  few  cattle,  which  Bedry  says  are 


264  X/FrC'A'. 

driven  in  here  at  this  season  to  avoid  the  taxes.  He 
says,  also,  that  they  use  the  camels  of  this  region  for 
breeding  with  the  shorter,  thicker  camels  of  Anatolia. 
A  little  before  one  we  reached  an  encampment  of  es- 
Se'id,  where  we  were  forced  to  stop  for  the  night, 
because  we  had  reached  the  limit  of  the  waters  of  the 
Euphrates,  and  there  was  said  to  be  a  journey  of  eight 
or  nine  hours  before  we  could  reach  the  Tigris  water 
coming  in  by  the  Shatt-el-Ha"i. 

"  The  name  of  the  chief  with  whom  we  stopped  was 
Hammadi.  He  was  suffering  from  a  severe  trouble  of 
the  eyes,  so  that  he  could  hardly  see  at  all.  He  and  a 
number  of  those  who  gathered  in  his  tent  demanded 
medicine.  I  had  nothing  with  me  but  purgative  pills 
and  quinine,  both  of  which  I  distributed  freely,  giving  to 
Hammadi,  according  to  my  custom,  a  double  dose  to 
mark  his  rank  as  sheikh.  Hammadi  was  somewhat  afraid 
of  the  pills,  but  Abdan,  our  guide,  established  my  reput- 
ation as  a  physician  by  narrating  how  I  gave  something 
to  a  man  of  Affech  who  was  all  swollen  out,  and  it 
worked  so  well  that  it  took  almost  everything  out  of  him 
in  one  night,  and  left  his  belly  quite  small.  The  black 
goat's  hair  tent  I  found  to  be  a  very  pleasant  protection 
against  the  sun,  and  by  raising  the  sides  one  obtains  a 
refreshing  breeze ;  but  the  party  who  gathered  in  Ham- 
madi's  tent  were  not  a  high  class  of  Arabs.  However, 
Bedry  skilfully  and  kindly  saved  me  from  much  annoy- 
ance through  their  inquisitiveness. 

Hammadi  related  a  doleful  tale  of  the  corruption 
and  oppression  of  the  Turkish  Government.  Ahmed 
Bey,  an  of^cial  whom  we  had  met  in  Diwanieh,  came 
out  to  estimate  the  amount  of  land  under  cultivation. 
Hammadi  told  him  that  there  were  about  six  acres.  He 
offered  to  return  that  amount  on  condition  of  receiving 
thirty  liras.  This  Hammadi  refused.  The  commis- 
sioner  then    said   that   he   would    return    eighteen,    and 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN.  265 

refused  even  to  go  and  look  at  the  land  cultivated.  Both 
Bedry  and  Mehemet,  one  of  our  zaptiehs,  thought  that 
our  good  Kaimakam  was  concerned  in  this.  Later,  how- 
ever, we  found  a  couple  of  hundred  acres  under  culti- 
vation by  this  encampment,  which  throws  a  somewhat 
different  light  on  the  matter. 

"  I  went  out  for  a  little  walk,  and  found  the  remains 
of  quite  an  extensive  mud  village,  and  two  mud  forts. 
One  of  these  was  built  solid  for  about  six  or  eight  feet, 
so  that  in  falling  into  ruins  it  made  quite  a  mound,  as 
did  also  the  mud  village.  From  a  small  grave  mound 
near  by  both  Bismya  and  Delehem  were  \dsible  I  was 
much  pestered  by  the  lower  Arabs  of  this  village,  who 
begged  incessantly.  I  put  them  off  by  jokes,  which  they 
seemed  to  enjoy  immensely.  They  played  all  sorts  of 
childish  antics  to  amuse  me.  Later,  a  man  brought  me 
his  one-year-old  daughter,  and  offered  her  as  my  slave, 
showing  by  expressive  gestures  what  this  meant.  For  a 
little  money,  these  people  would  sell  their  daughters,  or 
even  the  honor  of  their  wives.  Abdan  offered  me  his 
fifteen-year-old  daughter  for  a  '  wife,'  but  on  our  return 
we  found  that  she  had  eloped  with  a  young  man.  One 
young  man,  who  espied  me  from  a  distance,  came  run- 
ning up  to  me  with  extravagant  gestures  of  pleasure. 
It  turned  out  that  he  had  come  to  Nippur  for  medicine, 
and  I  had  given  him  something  which  he  thought  had 
cured  him.  I  am  thankful  that  it  did  not  kill  him. 
While  we  were  in  the  tent  the  cry  of  mad  dog  was 
raised,  and  I  saw  a  poor  creature  beaten  with  sticks  until 
he  was  injured  in  the  backbone  and  his  hind  legs  almost 
paralyzed,  but  their  humanity  did  not  allow  them  to  kill 
the  beast  outright,  although  they  mocked  at  and  gloated 
over  his  misery. 

The  eating  here  was  like  the  eating  at  Affech.  As 
the  Shiites  could  not  eat  with  me,  Bedry  and  I  ate  to- 
gether, and  afterwards  our  Sunnite  zaptiehs  ate  from  the 


266  iVirrc'R. 

same  dishes.  We  learned  that  this  part  of  the  country 
Avas  suffering  for  lack  of  water,  for  they  will  not  cut  the 
canals  above,  nearer  the  Euphrates,  as,  owing  to  the  low 
state  of  that  river,  the  water  is  not  more  than  sufficient 
for  the  Affech  swamps.  Formerly,  they  say,  the  swamps, 
and  consequently  the  cultivated  ground,  extended  far 
beyond  Bismya,  of  which  we  had  abundant  evidence 
later.  Last  year  the  great  flood  in  the  Euphrates  swept 
all  of  this  country,  and  the  large  grain  fields  of  Ham- 
madi's  camp,  which  we  saw  later  on  our  return  far  be- 
yond Bismya,  were  planted  on  the  ground  soaked  by  the 
flood.  Going  to  bed  was  a  trying  operation,  as  a  good 
part  of  the  tribe  stayed  to  witness  it,  and  admire  my  bed 
and  my  clothing.  Four  men  of  the  tribe  were  detailed 
to  watch  for  us  through  the  night,  and  it  was  necessary, 
for  thieves  prowled  about  a  good  part  of  the  time.  The 
guards  set  an  old  reed  hut  on  fire  to  give  light,  and  thus 
frighten  off  the  thieves,  and  finally  one  of  them  was 
obliged  to  fire  his  gun. 

"  We  were  up  long  before  dawn,  and  under  way  by 
five  o'clock,  our  breakfast  consisting  of  three  small  swal- 
lows of  coffee.  It  was  quite  cold,  so  that  I  actually 
suffered  from  cold  feet.  Our  course  was  south,  sixty 
degrees  east.  We  left  Bismya  on  our  left,  and  about  six 
o'clock  we  passed  quite  a  large  ruined  mud  castle,  which, 
I  was  told,  Midhat  Pasha  had  blown  down  with  cannon  in 
the  Affech  war.  Had  it  not  been  for  this  information  I 
should  have  supposed  it  to  be  a  ruin  of  an  earlier  period, 
so  extensive  was  it.  We  passed  one  or  two  low  mounds 
of  an  insignificant  character,  and  at  8.15  had  on  our  left 
a  long  low  line  of  little  mounds,  apparently  a  canal  line, 
which  our  guide  said  ran  all  the  way  from  Nippur.  In 
the  meantime  we  had  shifted  our  course  to  the  east  to 
avoid  the  sand  hills,  which  our  guide  said  were  to  the 
south.  At  about  half-past  eight  we  crossed  a  low  line  of 
sand  hills,   which    seemed   to   be    bodily  changing  their 


THE   FIRST   CAMPAIGN.  267 

place  with  the  wind,  which  was  fortunately  behind  us. 
To  the  south  we  could  see  immense  tracts  of  sand  and 
sand  hills.  The  country  was  unspeakably  barren,  and 
entirely  without  water.  There  were  no  flocks  of  any 
sort.  We  met  a  few  travelling  Arabs  and  some  wool 
merchants.  The  country  is  not  regarded  as  safe,  and  for 
greater  protection  we  had  taken  with  us  Hammadi's 
brother.  Once  a  horseman  from  a  party  some  distance 
to  our  right  came  galloping  toward  us,  and  Abdan  called 
on  our  soldiers  to  unsling  their  guns  and  be  ready  for 
action.  In  that  region  every  one  seems  to  be  regarded 
as  an  enemy  and  a  robber. 

"  After  crossing  the  sand  hills  we  observed  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground  everywhere  quantities  of  fresh  water 
shells.  Watching  more  closely  on  my  return,  I  noticed 
that  all  the  country  subject  to  inundations  from  the 
Tigris  or  Euphrates,  or  their  canals,  is  covered  with  simi- 
lar shells,  and  most  of  this  country  seems  to  have  been 
subject  at  one  time  or  another  to  such  inundations.  At 
10.40,  close  to  a  marsh  caused  by  the  overflow  of  the 
Mejidieh,  a  canal  said  to  leave  the  Tigris  near  the  point 
of  departure  of  the  Shatt-el-Hai,  we  found  a  camp  of 
black  tents  of  the  Beni  Temim.  Here  we  rested  and 
obtained  something  to  eat.  They  seemed  poor,  although 
they  possessed  great  quantities  of  sheep.  They  told  us 
that  a  few'  days  before  the  edh-Dhefir  had  plundered 
from  them  sixty  she-asses  and  two  mares.  Here,  as 
among  some  other  tribes  in  this  region,  I  thought  that 
I  noticed  quite  a  different  type  of  face  from  the  markedly 
Semitic  and  rather  handsome  Arabs  of  Baghdad,  Hillah, 
Affech,  and  the  like.  The  faces  were  broader,  the  noses 
more  inclined  to  turn  up  than  down,  and  the  eyes  were 
neither  so  dark  nor  so  liquid.  We  started  again  at  12.29, 
shifting  our  course  to  the  southeast.  Abdan  is  the  first 
Arab  I  have  seen  who  can  go  in  a  straight  line,  a  thing  I 
should  suppose  it   very   difficult   for  men    unacquainted 


268  NIPPUR. 

with  the  compass  to  do  in  a  country  without,  or  almost 
without,  landmarks.  Shortly  after  two  we  passed  through 
a  large  camp  of  Sa'adun,  the  true  Montefich.  We  passed 
several  small  mounds  and  canal  beds,  and  at  3.05  could 
see  to  the  south,  twenty  degrees  west,  the  large  low 
mound  of  Umm-el-Akarib,  pronounced  Ajarib.  At  five 
o'clock  we  entered  the  cultivated  land  irrigated  by  the 
Shatt-el-Hai.  This  was  so  intersected  by  canals  that  it 
proved  necessary  to  obtain  a  local  pilot  from  a  camp  on 
the  edge,  and  by  his  assistance  we  reached  an  encamp- 
ment of  the  Beni  Rechab,  on  the  banks  of  the  Shatt-el- 
Hai,  at  6. 15. 

"  We  found  that  we  had  reached  the  Shatt  some 
distance  above  Tello,  and  Bedry  at  once  set  to  work 
energetically  to  obtain  a  boat  to  take  us  down  that  night, 
while  I  fell  asleep,  being  much  fatigued.  It  was  9.40 
before  a  boat  was  obtained  from  a  village  some  distance 
below,  and  we  were  embarked.  In  the  meantime  we  had 
been  fed  and  refreshed,  and  I  had  been  called  on  to  play 
doctor  to  a  number  of  the  tribe.  We  left  our  horses, 
our  muleteer,  one  zaptieh,  and  our  Se'id  guide 
here,  taking,  in  place  of  the  latter,  the  chief  of  this 
encampment.  They  told  us  that  the  trip  down  the 
Shatt  would  take  a  half  an  hour,  but  it  was  actually  11.55 
before  we  landed.  Our  first  boat  was  too  small  and 
rather  dangerously  frail,  and  we  had  to  put  ashore  at  the 
village  from  which  it  came  and  get  another.  Here  the 
boatman  attempted  to  desert,  unless  we  would  pay  him 
a  larger  sum  than  that  agreed  on.  The  boats  we  used 
were  long  and  thin,  and  brought,  I  think,  at  least  the 
frames,  from  India.  They  are  of  wood  pitched  over. 
They  were  rowed  with  sticks,  but  there  was  a  mast. 

On  arriving  at  M.  de  Sarzec's  camp,  we  received 
word  from  him  that  he  was  sick,  but  a  very  pleasant  hut 
was  placed  at  our  disposal,  and  the  next  morning  he  was 
with  us  before  I  was  dressed.     As  he  was  not  well,  the 


THE   FIRST   CAMPAIGX.  269 

men  were  not  working,  but  at  Bedry's  request  a  chief, 
whom  he  knew  from  having  been  commissioner  there  last 
year,  sent  four  horses  to  take  us  to  Tello,  and  the  pres- 
ent commissioner,  Mahir  Bey  went  along.  They  tell  me 
that  he  employs  at  the  highest  this  year  one  hundred 
and  fifty  men,  which  is  more  than  he  ever  employed 
before.  De  Sarzec's  camp  among  the  green  fields  on  the 
border  of  the  Shatt  seemed  more  like  a  summer  pleasure 
party  than  a  rough  hard-working  camp  like  ours.  His 
wife,  his  ten-year-old  son,  and  a  French  maid  are  with 
him.  But  pleasant  as  his  location  is,  it  cannot  be  good 
for  the  work,  for  we  found  that  it  was  a  ride  of  over  an 
hour  to  the  miound.  The  latter  is  very  uninteresting 
in  appearance,  low,  and,  in  comparison  with  Nippur,  not 
at  all  extensive.  The  diggings  are  not  deep  at  any 
point,  and  I  do  not  think,  from  what  I  was  told,  that 
the  lower  part  of  the  mound  has  ever  been  touched. 
The  two  commissioners  squabbled  and  contradicted  one 
another  so  much  that  it  was  difficult  to  obtain  an}-  infor- 
mation from  them,  and  '\\.  de  Sarzec  did  not  wish  to 
give  me  any,  and  would  not  even  permit  me  to  see  what 
had  been  found.  There  were  a  few  other  small  tels  visi- 
ble from  Tello,  the  largest  being  the  seven  tels  of  Medain 
to  the  northeast. 

"  On  our  return,  the  chief  who  had  lent  us  the  horses 
invited  us  to  stop  and  drink  cofTee,  but  we  had  scarcely 
arrived  in  the  tent  before  the  cry  of  war  arose,  and  all 
the  men  of  the  camp  were  off  in  an  instant,  leaving  us 
alone.  There  was  some  trouble  about  the  canals,  result- 
ing in  the  burning  of  a  hut  belonging  to  a  man  of  this 
village  by  another  village  of  the  'Atab.  The  soldiers 
were  called  upon  to  interfere  to  prevent  fighting,  which 
they  did.  Bedry  tells  me  that  since  the  Montefich  were 
chastised  by  the  Turks  some  years  since,  this  country  is 
very  obedient.  In  the  meantime,  my  horse  having  been 
taken  for  the  war,  I  returned  on  foot.     After  a  while  I 


2/0  NIPPUR. 

heard  the  returning  warriors  singing  a  song  of  triumph, 
as  though  they  had  won  a  victory.  This  was  my  first 
experience  of  native  saddles,  and  I  cannot  imagine  how 
people  succeed  in  keeping  their  seat  upon  them,  or  going 
faster  than  a  walk. 

"  M.  de  Sarzec  gave  us  an  excellent  European  break- 
fast, and  about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  we  started 
on  the  return  journey.  As  we  were  going  against  stream, 
the  boat  was  drawn  by  a  rope  attached  to  the  top  of  the 
mast  and  pulled  by  two  men  on  the  shore.  They  were 
as  frisky  as  two  kids.  Sometimes  they  stopped  to  dance, 
and  then,  when  the  boat  had  come  to  rest  and  the  rope 
was  slack,  they  would  start  at  full  speed,  almost  over- 
turning us.  One  of  them  was  in  love  with  a  maiden 
named  Chorla,  an  inhabitant  of  one  of  the  villages  which 
we  passed.  The  sight  of  this  village  led  him  to  sing, 
'  Chorla,  how  I  love  thee,  I  cannot  live  without  thee !  "■ 
and  much  more  of  the  same  sort.  We  had  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  Chorla  herself  walking  on  the  bank,  but  she 
was  so  wrapped  up  that  her  charms  were  invisible.  I 
was  surprised  at  the  amount  of  cultivation  along  the 
banks  of  the  Shatt-el-Hai,  and  the  commerce  on  its 
waters. 

"  We  reached  the  encampment  where  we  had  left  our 
horses  shortly  after  sundown.  On  the  way  the  chief  had 
spoken  so  enthusiastically  of  Yokha,  or  Jokha,  that  we 
determined  to  visit  it,  but  when  it  came  to  the  point, 
the  Beni  Rechab  told  us  that  it  was  in  the  territory  of  the 
predatory  tribe  of  edh-Dhefir,  and  that  we  should  have 
to  take  with  us  fifteen  or  twenty  armed  men.  We  tried 
to  hire  a  guard  of  five,  but  money  apparently  would  not 
tempt  them  to  go.  I  even  told  Bedry  to  offer  a  good 
backsheesh  to  a  man  who  would  take  a  fast  horse  and  go 
with  me  alone.  Either  he  did  not  offer  as  I  bade  him, 
or  not  a  man  could  be  found  to  do  it.  As  a  guard  of 
fifteen   or  twenty  men  would  mean  war,  we  could  not 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIG.Y.  2/1 

accept  that,  and,  for  the  tune  being,  had  to  surrender  the 
point.  I  had  also  wished  to  see  Umm-el-Akarib,  but 
that  was  in  the  same  region. 

"  Wednesday,  April  3d,  we  started  for  home  at  6.10 
A.M.  Our  course  was  a  little  more  northerly  than  that 
by  which  we  had  come,  and  we  passed  a  few  small 
mounds  and  canals  which  I  had  not  observed  before, 
neither  was  Umm-el-Akarib  visible.  At  10.25  we  reached 
an  enormous  encampment  of  black  tents,  or  rather  a 
series  of  encampments,  and  at  10.45  ^^'^  reached  the  se- 
lamlik  of  that  encampment.  On  the  rug  at  one  end  was 
a  camel's  saddle,  which  Bedry  declared  to  be  the  sign  of 
a  great  chief.  Presently  the  chief  himself  appeared,  and 
took  his  seat  on  the  right  of  the  saddle  throne,  I  being 
placed  on  the  left.  It  turned  out  to  be  an  encampment 
of  the  Sa'adun,  and  the  name  of  the  chief  to  be  Hamud- 
el-Bendir.  They  seemed  to  be  rich,  and  their  flocks  of 
camels  and  sheep  were  countless.  They  were  Sunnites, 
and  Bedry  told  me  that  Hamud  and  his  family  stood  on 
very  good  terms  with  the  government,  and  that  it  was 
they  who  had  furnished  the  government  with  guides, 
and  otherwise  assisted  them  in  the  war  with  the  Monte- 
fich.  He  was  very  hospitable,  and  the  impression  made 
on  my  mind  was  extremely  favorable.  The  respect 
shown  to  him  by  his  tribe  seemed  great,  and  the  order  in 
the  selamlik  was  in  striking  contrast  to  the  mob-rule  in 
Hammadi's  camp.  He  asked  us  to  spend  the  night,  and 
I  gladly  accepted  on  the  condition  that  he  should  send 
us  to  Jokha  that  afternoon.  He  gave  us  a  delicious  lunch 
of  camel's  milk  and  bread  soaked  in  something,  and  at 
1.05  we  left  for  Jokha,  accompanied  by  our  guide,  our 
zaptiehs,  and  five  spearmen,  one  of  them  a  negro  slave  of 
the  chief.  The  latter  did  not  himself  accompany  us, 
being  in  delicate  health. 

Our  course  was  south  ten  degrees  west.      We  passed 
innumerable  camels,  but  what  they  found  to  eat  I  could 


2/2  lyiFFUH. 

not  see,  and  indeed  they  gave  the  general  impression  of 
being  out  for  a  walk  merely.  At  2.05  we  entered  some 
low  sand  hills,  and  at  2.18  we  were  on  the  other  side  of 
them,  but  there  was  still  abundance  of  sand,  and  the 
ground  was  curiously  worn  and  hardened  by  the  con- 
stant passage  over  it  of  the  sand  driven  by  the  wind. 
At  three  o'clock  we  reached  Jokha.  Our  pace  from  the 
camp  had  been  fairly  good,  and  I  should  think  we  had 
covered  a  distance  of  ten  miles  or  a  little  more.  The 
mound  was  extensive,  but  low,  and  half-covered  with 
the  sand.  To  the  west  and  south  were  sand  hills,  and 
the  wind  from  the  west  whirled  the  sand  over  us  in  great 
quantities.  The  tower  of  el-Hammam  was  visible  south 
seventy-five  degrees  west,  but  in  the  sand  haze  it  was 
impossible  even  to  guess  at  the  distance.  Umm-el- 
Akarib  was  said  to  be  southeast,  but  was  totally  invisible. 
There  were  no  glass  fragments  nor  remains  of  glazed  pot- 
tery on  the  surface  of  the  mound.  We  found  a  couple 
of  brick  walls  cropping  out,  and  a  double  well  of  pottery, 
or  such  at  least  it  appeared  to  be. 

There  were  great  quantities  of  stone  fragments  on 
the  mound,  some  of  them  having  worked  surfaces; 
and  one  large  piece  we  found  on  w^iich  the  worked  face 
had  been  destroyed  intentionally,  as  though  to  efface 
something.  The  stone  used  was  very  various,  and  must 
have  come  from  a  number  of  different  places.  The  bricks 
which  we  saw  looked  ancient,  but  were  uninscribed.  I 
picked  up  a  few  pieces  of  copper  on  this  mound.  The 
ruins  seemed  to  me,  so  far  as  I  could  judge  from  the 
surface  indications,  ancient,  and  not  built  upon  in  later 
times;  but  it  would  be  a  place  difficult  to  excavate,  be- 
cause, first,  of  the  sand ;  secondly,  of  the  lack  of  water, 
A  third  difficulty  in  the  way  of  digging  here  is  the  inse- 
curity of  the  region,  and  I  should  suppose  that  for  the 
same  reason  it  might  be  difficult  to  find  workmen. 

We  left  the  mound  again  at  four  o'clock,  and  reached 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN.  273 

camp  at  6.10.  Our  Arab  guides  had  kept  a  pretty  care- 
ful watch  while  on  the  mound,  and  on  the  return  four 
of  them  rode  off  in  war  circles  to  the  west,  seeing,  or 
pretending  to  see,  suspicious  characters.  I  was  told  at 
camp  that  the  Shatt-en-Nil  comes  down  from  Nippur  to 
this  point,  and  is  here  lost  in  the  sand  hills.  I  wished  to 
follow  its  course  back  to  Nippur,  but  this  was  beyond 
the  possibilities  of  my  guide  or  any  that  could  be  found. 
We  were  entertained  at  a  royal  dinner,  by  far  the  best  I 
have  seen  among  the  Arabs.  There  was  a  great  dish  of 
pilau,  at  least  a  yard  in  diameter,  surmounted  by  a  lamb 
w4th  the  head  on.  This  was  surrounded  by  a  circle  of 
smaller  dishes  containing  some  preparation  of  meat  which 
I  did  not  try,  and  these  again  by  a  circle  of  sweet  dishes 
of  milk,  musk,  etc.  There  was  also  a  dish  of  chickens 
between  me  and  the  chief.  The  whole  was  set  upon 
mats,  and  we  ate  with  our  fingers,  of  course.  Being 
Sunnites,  there  was  no  difficulty  about  my  eating  with 
them,  and  our  two  Shiite  guides  and  our  muleteer,  in 
view  of  the  character  of  the  meal,  also  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  eating  with  us.  We  established  quite  a  friend- 
ship with  Hamud-el-Bendir.  I  could  not  give  him  the 
medicine  which  he  needed,  and  he  agreed  to  come  to  us 
in  the  autumn,  when  I  should  send  for  him,  and  I  would 
try  to  bring  it.  He  was  then  to  send  me  through  the 
Montefich  country  wherever  I  wished  to  go.  I  said  that 
I  should  like  to  bring  him  a  present  from  America,  and, 
of  course,  he  asked  for  a  gun,  which  Bedry  insisted  on 
promising,  saying  that  he  would  give  it  himself  if  I  would 
not.  Hamud  also  wrote  a  letter  on  our  behalf  to  Hajji 
Tarfa's  family.  He  made  on  my  mind  decidedly  the 
impression  of  an  Arab  gentleman.  I  saw  no  firearms  in 
the  hands  of  this  tribe,  but  only  spears.  The  wool  mer- 
chants were  there  buying  wool  at  the  period  of  our  visit. 
The  Arabs  said  that  they  received  four  piastres  a  sheep, 
and  ten  sheep  out  of  every  one  hundred  were  thrown  in  for 

VOL.  I. — 18 


274  NIPPUR. 

nothing.  Bedry  says  that  the  annual  government  tax 
on  each  sheep  is  four  piastres,  and  on  each  camel  ten 
piastres.  The  tax  on  the  government  land  cultivated  by 
the  Arabs  is  fifty  per  cent.  A  separate  white  Egyptian 
tent  was  pitched  for  us,  and  we  spent  a  better  night  than 
usual.  The  next  morning,  in  addition  to  our  coffee,  we 
had  delicious  milk,  fresh  from  the  camel. 

April  4th.  We  started  at  6.05,  our  course  north- 
west. At  7.04  we  had  reached  the  southern  end  of  the 
marsh  formed  by  the  waters  of  the  Mejidieh  Canal.  This 
already  covered  a  great  extent  of  ground,  but  we  were 
told  that  in  a  month  it  would  cover  vastly  more.  As  the 
waters  retreat  again,  the  Arabs  sow  the  land  in  durra. 
About  a  half-mile  to  our  left  was  the  northern  end  of  the 
Sa'adun  camp,  the  southern  end  of  which  we  had  passed 
on  the  outward  journey.  The  chief  of  this,  Ferhan-el- 
jMeshed,  is  a  cousin  of  Hamud.  The  time  of  the  retreat 
of  the  waters  from  the  marshes  is,  they  told  us,  Septem- 
ber, and  the  waters  begin  to  enter  them  in  March.  At 
9.30  we  had  reached  again  the  country  of  the  el-Budeir. 
Their  land,  so  far  as  it  has  any  water,  is  supplied  from 
the  Euphrates.  From  9.30  to  10.45  ^"^'^  passed  through 
wheat  fields  sown  on  last  year's  inundated  land.  On  the 
border  of  these  we  stopped  to  lunch  on  cold  chicken  and 
sugar-coated  bread  given  us  by  Hamud-el-Bendir,  and  a 
bottle  of  M.  de  Sarzec's  wine.  At  11.28  we  were  under 
way  again,  and  at  12.40  we  were  on  the  mound  of  Bis- 
mya,  from  the  top  of  which  we  could  see  the  country  of 
the  el-Budeir,  and  of  the  Affech  beyond,  dotted  with 
mud  forts,  for  the  most  part  in  ruins.  Our  guide  said 
that  this  mound  was  on  the  Shatt-en-Nil,  which  he 
pointed  out,  but  which  I  failed  to  see.  The  mound  is 
very  extensive,  and  a  little  higher  than  Tello  or  Yokha. 
It  is  a  succession  of  long  low  hills  with  valleys  between. 
It  also  gave  the  impression  of  an  ancient  mound,  not 
built  upon  in  later  times.      I  saw  no  glass  nor  glazed  pot- 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN.  275 

tery.  Dr.  Ward  saw  here  the  remains  of  walls.  It  would 
not  be  easy  to  conduct  excavations  on  account  of  the  lack 
of  water,  which  at  present  comes  no  nearer  than  Ham- 
madi's  camp,  two  hours  away.  We  left  the  mound  at 
1. 1 5,  and  reached  Hammadi's  camp  at  3. 10. 

"  We  left  Hammadi's  camp  on  April  5th,  at  6.20  A.M. ^ 
and  took  a  direct  course  for  Nippur,  about  northwest, 
but  our  direction  and  our  speed  were  much  interfered 
with  after  we  entered  the  Affech  country  by  large  canals, 
which  sometimes  necessitated  a  circuitous  course.  The 
water  in  several  of  those  which  we  crossed  was  consider- 
ably above  our  horses'  bellies.  At  7.27  the  guide  pointed 
out  to  the  north,  twenty  degrees  east,  a  long  mound  in 
the  distance,  which  he  said  was  larger  than  Bismya,  but 
which  we  could  not  visit  on  account  of  intervening  canals 
and  marshes,  at  least  so  he  claimed.  The  name  which 
he  gave  to  this  mound  was  Tuweyhis,  At  10.42  we 
caught  sight  of  Nippur.  At  11. 15  we  reached  the  old 
canal  bed  called  Hayatt  Jeheysh,  which  we  followed, 
north  seventy  degrees  west,  until  12.40.  The  guide  said 
that  it  came  from  Nippur,  but,  so  far  as  I  could  see,  it 
came  from  Mudeynah,  or  Abu  Jowan,  the  low  hills  about 
two  hours  north  of  east  from  Nippur,  which  Harper  and 
I  visited  one  afternoon  a  month  or  more  ago.  We  reached 
camp  at  1.45  P.M. 

During  our  absence  nothing  of  any  great  importance 
had  been  found.  Much  more  of  the  temple  had  been 
laid  bare,  but  the  plan  of  the  whole  is  no  nearer  explana- 
tion, apparently,  than  before.  In  uncovering  a  wall  on 
the  east  side,  a  door  socket  of  stone  was  found  with  an 
inscription  of  Kurigalzu,  but  the  inscription  was  the  same 
as  that  on  the  bricks.  At  V.  what  appeared  to  be  a  kiln 
was  found,  and  a  number  of  baked  tablets  of  the  Ham- 
murabi dynasty,  as  fresh  as  if  just  made.  On  the  day 
after  we  left  Berdi  had  given  a  great  feast  to  the  camp. 
There  had  been  trouble  durine  the  week  with  one  of  the 


2/6  NIPPUR. 

Affech  workmen,  in  which  the  zaptiehs  had  thought  that 
the  workmen  were  threatening  them  and  the  camp.  In 
reahty,  the  men  wanted  to  take  a  refractory  workman  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  zaptiehs,  beat  him.  and  drive  him  off 
the  mound. 

"  April  14th.  During  the  last  week  some  stealing  has 
been  discovered.  In  the  bushes  near  the  point  at  which 
we  get  our  water  was  found  a  rag  containing  thirteen 
tablets  and  a  brick  stamp,  the  latter,  which  is  very  inter- 
esting, being  the  stamp  of  Naram  Sin.  Some  of  the 
tablets  were  of  the  late  Babylonian  and  Persian  period, 
such  as  are  found  generally  near  the  surface  at  V.  ;  some 
were  of  the  Hammurabi  dynasty,  such  as  are  found  ordi- 
narily in  the  same  hill  at  a  greater  depth;  and  the 
brick  stamp  and  a  stone  astronomical  tablet  were  more 
like  the  few  archaic  fragments  found  on  the  Temple 
Hill.  All  the  pickmen  swore  on  the  Koran  that  they 
knew  nothing  about  it.  Since  then  we  have  been  trying 
in  vain  to  ferret  the  matter  out,  and  to-day  the  scrapers 
and  basket-carriers  of  the  suspected  trenches,  who  came 
from  this  neighborhood,  have  been  taken  to  a  ziaret 
be5'ond  Affech,  which  they  regard  as  peculiarly  effica- 
cious, to  put  them  through  an  oath.  It  has  inflamed  the 
jealousy  between  Birs  Nimrud  and  Hillah,  which  was 
largely  due  to  Bedry,  and  for  the  last  few  days  there  has 
been  constant  trouble.  The  men,  moreover,  have  not 
been  working  as  well  as  before,  and  Ave  have  so  many 
that  it  is  difficult  to  oversee  them.  Last  night  we  had 
to  discharge  ten  gangs  for  laziness.  We  had  also  to  send 
for  Mekota  to  take  away  some  of  his  men  who  had  been 
causing  trouble.  He  inflicted  himself  on  me  most  of  the 
afternoon,  and,  as  usual,  begged  for  a  gun  or  pistol. 
Last  night  four  sheep  belonging  to  our  workmen  were 
stolen.  They  were  in  a  little  space  almost  surrounded 
b}-  huts,  and  directly  behind  the  huts  of  our  soldiers. 
One  dav  not  long  since  some  of  the  neighboring  Arabs 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGX.  2'JJ 

beat    and    robbed    a    poor    lad    who    was    getting    grass 
for  us. 

"  While  I  was  away  the  weather  was  quite  cool,  but 
since  my  return  the  heat  has  been  excessive,  and  there 
has  been  an  invasion  of  fleas.  Berdi  was  here  one  night, 
and  I  had  him  sleep  in  my  tent,  which  pleased  him,  but 
did  not  diminish  the  number  of  my  fleas.  The  country 
around  us  looks  beautiful  now,  with  rich  patches  of  grass 
and  glimmering  water,  and  palm-trees  in  the  distance. 
Only  to  the  east  of  us  it  is  barren.  The  view  is  animated 
also,  for  great  numbers  of  sheep  and  some  camels  have 
been  driven  into  our  neighborhood.  There  are  a  number 
of  new  camps  about,  and  occasionally  one  sees  the  white 
sails  of  a  boat  on  the  marshes  bound  for  Sukh-el-Aff'ech. 
There  are  quantities  of  young  gazelles  brought  to  us,  and 
Noorian  has  bought  several,  to  the  rearing  of  which  he 
gives  much  attention. 

During  my  absence  the  permission  arrived.  I  got 
Noorian  to  translate  it,  so  that  I  might  read  it  to  all.  It 
is  even  worse  than  I  supposed. 

"  A  few  days  ago  from  a  house  at  I.  was  brought  out 
an  enormous,  inscribed,  Jewish  bowl,  which  is,  I  believe, 
quite  unique  in  size. 

Wednesday,  April  17th.  Sunday,  our  boat,  which 
was  engaged  for  the  22d,  appeared,  or  rather  it  reported 
itself  as  being  at  Shkheyr,  the  Behahtha  village,  ready 
for  us. 

On  the  way  to  the  ziaret  to  swear,  Hajji  ^^lehemet 
was  taken  sick  and  came  back.  His  halfa,  or  scraper, 
also  failed  to  appear  to  take  oath.  In  the  swearing,  two 
men  testified  that  they  had  been  told  by  two  of  the  gang 
of  Abbas-el- J asim  that  he  had  offered  them  a  reward  if 
they  would  swear  that  Ziara  was  the  thief.  The  men 
themselves  testified  that  Abbas  had  offered  them  a  reward 
if  they  would  find  out  who  did  it.  and  that  he  had  told 
them  that  he  was  sure  that  it  was  Ziara,  and  as  one  of 


278  NIPPUR. 

them  had  a  brother  in  Ziara's  gang,  he  could  find  out 
through  him.  Ziara  worked  in  X.,  and  was  a  Birs  Nim- 
rud  man.  The  other  two  worked  in  V.,  and  were  Jimji- 
meh  men.  Against  all  three  we  entertained  more  or  less 
suspicion.  On  their  return  Bedry  had  Abbas,  against 
whom  he  had  a  violent  prejudice,  arrested,  and  declared 
his  intention  to  send  him  and  Hajji  Mehemet  to  the 
Kaimakam  of  Diwanieh  the  next  day." 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE   CATASTROPHE. 

Shooting  a  Thief — Danger  of  Attack — Arab  Allies — Parleying — Excava- 
tions Stopped  —  Useless  Zaptiehs — Mekota — The  Burning  of  the 
Camp — The  Robbery — I  Accuse  Mekota — Our  Departure — Evidence 
Against  Mekota — An  Arab  Dinner — The  Governor-General — His 
Suspicions — Resignations — Recalled — Emigrant  Wagons — A  Jewish 
Shrine — Variations  of  Route — A  Hail  Storm — Horrors  of  the  Trip. 

IT  was  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Monday, 
April  15th,  that  Abbas,  the  prisoner,  heard  a  noise 
and  waked  Mehemet,  the  zaptieh  to  whom  he  was  bound. 
Four  es-Sa'id  Arabs  were  trying  to  steal  the  horses  and 
mules,  and  had  actually  untied  one  of  the  latter.  Mehemet 
ran  out  and  raised  an  alarm.  They  fled,  and  he  fired  and 
killed  one  of  them.  It  is  the  ordinary  custom  to  fire  to 
alarm  a  thief  only,  not  to  kill  him.  Unfortunately, 
Haynes,  annoyed  by  the  thieving  propensities  of  the 
Arabs,  had,  without  my  knowledge,  promised  the  first 
zaptieh  who  shot  a  thief  a  mejidieh.  At  the  first  alarm, 
moreover,  Noorian,  half-asleep,  ran  out  of  his  hut  in  his 
night-clothes,  shouting  out  to  kill  the  thief.  Mehemet, 
therefore,  thought  that  he  was  acting  under  orders. 
But  no  sooner  was  the  deed  done  than  he  realized  that  he 
had  put  himself  in  peril.  According  to  the  notions  of 
the  country,  he  had  committed  murder,  for  which  the  dead 
man's  tribesmen  were  entitled  to  exact  blood  revenge. 

He  wished  to  run  away  at  once  and  try  to  get  through 
to   Daghara,    from   which  place   he   hoped   to   escape   to 

279 


2  So  NIPPUR. 

Diwanieh ;  and  Bedry,  and  even  Mehemet's  superior  offi- 
cer, Murad  Chaous,  were  in  favor  of  this  as  the  best  way 
to  relieve  us  of  responsibility.  I  would  not  consent,  for 
the  man  had  but  obeyed  orders,  and  I  believed  that  the 
Expedition  should  stand  by  him.  Murad  Chaous,  too, 
quickly  changed  his  mind,  recognizing  that  the  man 
would  be  killed  before  he  could  reach  Daghara.  I  went 
down  with  Noorian  to  look  at  the  dead  man,  who  had 
fallen  in  the  bed  of  the  Shatt-en-Nil.  He  seemed  to 
have  been  shot  through  the  heart.  His  body  was  carried 
off  almost  immediately  by  the  nearest  es-Sa'id,  encamped 
just  at  the  foot  of  the  mound,  within  rifle  range.  The 
dead  man  himself,  as  we  afterwards  learned,  came  from  a 
more  distant  camp  to  the  east. 

Within  five  minutes  of  the  shooting,  Noorian  had  very 
promptly  sent  Abbas  to  Berdi's  camp  to  announce  the 
occurrence,  and  for  his  good  services  that  night,  the 
matter  of  stealing  in  the  trenches  against  him  and  Hajji 
Mehemet  was  dropped  altogether.  A  messenger  was 
despatched  on  Bedry's  account  to  the  Kaimakam  of 
Diwanieh,  nine  hours  away.  We  also  stationed  guards 
about  the  camp,  and  prepared  to  defend  ourselves. 

Then  followed  a  period  of  anxious  suspense.  Soon 
the  death  wail  sounded  from  a  village  close  beneath  us. 
Then  a  signal  fire  was  kindled.  This  was  answered  by 
another  and  another,  until  the  whole  plain  was  dotted 
with  little  lights,  while  through  the  still  night  came  the 
sounds  of  bustle  and  preparation  for  the  attack,  and  still 
no  answer  from  the  Affech.  At  last,  after  two  hours, 
Berdi  arrived  with  a  small  party  of  spearmen  and  gun- 
ners. He  reported  that  he  had  sent  messages  to  the 
other  Affech  chiefs  to  come  to  our  assistance,  and  also  to 
the  es-Sa'id  to  warn  them  that  the  Affech  were  on  the 
hill,  and  that  to  attack  us  meant  war  with  the  whole 
Affech  nation.  Toward  morning,  young  Mekota,  hand- 
some and  sinister,  Hamud-el-Berjud,   most  gentlemanly 


THE    CATASTROPHE.  28 1 

and  most  faithful  of  the  chiefs,  Abd-el-Hamud,  a  jolly- 
Irishman  of  an  Arab,  and  a  considerable  force  of  warriors 
arrived.  Then  commenced  a  series  of  parleyings.  First 
it  was  proposed  on  behalf  of  the  es-Sa'id  that  we  should 
surrender  the  zaptieh  who  had  done  the  shooting,  for 
they  had  no  quarrel  with  us,  but  only  with  the  Turks. 
This,  of  course,  I  would  not  do.  Then  Berdi  urged  us 
to  separate  ourselves  from  the  Turks,  and  descend  to  his 
village  and  become  his  guests,  leaving  the  Turks  and  the 
es-Sa'id  to  settle  the  matter  between  them,  for,  after  all, 
it  was  an  affair  of  the  Turkish  Government,  and  not  our 
affair,  and  why  should  we  mix  ourseleves  in  it  ?  This 
proposition,  like  the  other,  I  rejected  as  dishonorable. 
We  would  protect  the  zaptieh,  and  stand  or  fall  by  the 
result.  Seeing  that  we  were  firm  in  this,  the  Affech 
finally  agreed  to  stand  by  us,  although  openly  saying 
that  they  had  little  stomach  for  protecting  a  Turkish 
zaptieh  against  what  they  could  not  but  feel  to  be  the 
just  resentment  of  a  friendly  tribe.  That  was  the  natural 
feeling  of  the  country.  Even  Noorian,  after  the  first 
moment  of  excitement  had  passed,  felt  sympathy  with 
the  demands  of  the  es-Sa'id,  and  indignation  against 
poor  Mehemet  for  his  crime. 

Having  agreed  to  assist  us,  the  chiefs  composed  and 
sent  a  most  arrogant  letter  to  Sughub,  head-chief  of  the 
es-Sa'id,  summoning  him  to  appear  before  them,  order- 
ing him  to  restore  the  sheep  which  had  been  stolen,  to 
punish  the  thieves,  and  to  give  guarantees  that  no  injury 
should  be  done  to  us  or  ours.  In  course  of  time  the 
messengers — two  of  our  es-Sa'id  workmen,  who  had  been 
loath  to  go  because,  as  they  said,  they  would  be  counted 
as  belonging  to  our  tribe — returned  with  torn  garments 
and  other  evidences  of  a  beating,  and  the  answer  that 
Sughub  was  busy.  After  some  discussion,  the  chiefs 
next  proposed  that  we  should  stop  the  excavations  and 
return  to   Baghdad,  leaving  them  to  settle  with  the  es- 


282  NIPPUR, 

Sa'id  after  our  departure,  and  in  the  meantime,  until  we 
were  ready  to  leave,  they  would  remain  on  the  hill  with 
a  force  sufficient  to  guard  us.  This  was  the  only  course 
to  be  pursued,  for  we  could  get  no  work  out  of  our  men, 
there  were  continual  alarms  of  attempts  of  individual 
es-Sa'id  to  steal  up  and  get  a  shot  at  the  zaptiehs,  and 
the  men  of  Affech  were  evidently  at  heart  in  sympathy 
with  the  enemy.  The  zaptiehs  were  obliged  to  keep 
within  the  inner  camp  enclosure,  and  the  one  who  had 
done  the  shooting  was  disguised  and  kept  in  hiding.  It 
had  been  our  intention  to  leave  in  a  very  few  days,  and 
we  actually  had  a  large  boat  in  waiting  in  the  marshes. 
Under  the  circumstances,  therefore,  we  decided  to  accept 
the  proposition,  the  workmen  were  paid  off,  and  we  be- 
gan to  pack  forthwith. 

In  the  meantime  more  zaptiehs  had  begun  to  arrive. 
Six  came  from  Diwanieh,  and  four  from  el-Budeir,  and 
Tuesday,  as  we  were  at  dinner,  twenty  men  arrived  by 
boat  from  Hillah,  with  a  trumpeter,  a  captain,  and  six 
hundred  rounds  of  cartridges.  The  Arabs  on  guard  were 
much  exasperated  by  this,  saying  that  they  were  guard- 
ing us,  and  that  the  zaptiehs  were  not  needed.  In  point 
of  fact,  the  latter  were  an  utterly  undisciplined  crew  of 
wild  Arabs,  whom  the  government  should  never  have 
sent.  Monday  and  Tuesday,  the  selamlik  in  front  of  my 
tent  and  my  tent  itself  were  thronged  by  the  chiefs,  their 
men,  and  the  zaptiehs,  and  I  had  to  distribute  a  great 
deal  of  medicine,  cigars,  and  tobacco.  Mekota  and  his 
scribe  pestered  me  a  great  deal.  The  former  would  push 
his  way  into  my  tent  and  explore  everything.  He  found 
my  gun,  and  insisted  on  being  shown  its  mechanism. 
His  scribe  found  that  I  could  read  and  write  Arabic  a 
little,  so  he  wrote  a  sentence  saying  that  Mekota  wished 
for  my  pistol.  The  soldier  on  guard  at  the  door  became 
very  nervous,  and  tried  to  tell  me  something  in  Turkish. 
I  sent  for  Noorian,  but  when  he  arrived  the  paper  with 


THE    CATASTROPHE.  283 

the  Arabic  sentence  had  disappeared.  I  asked  Bendir, 
the  scribe,  where  it  was.  He  looked  sheepish,  but  finally 
produced  it.  I  found  that  it  was  much  what  I  had  sup- 
posed it  to  be.  I  told  Noorian  to  tell  him  that  I  did  not 
understand  Arabic  now,  but  hoped  to  do  so  next  year, 
implying  that  I  might  bring  him  a  pistol  then.  I  did  not 
wish  to  give  a  pistol  to  Mekota,  because  we  had  lost  so 
many  that  we  could  not  afford  it  without  leaving  our- 
selves too  defenceless.  Moreover,  if  I  gav'e  one  to  him, 
it  would  occasion  great  jealousy,  and  lead  to  similar 
demands  from  others.  It  would  also  expose  me  to  an- 
noyance and  misrepresentation  on  the  part  of  the  Turkish 
officials,  to  the  effect,  probably,  that  we  were  distributing 
arms  among  the  Arabs. 

Tuesday,  Shamir,  Mekota's  uncle,  came  out  to  see  me 
and  get  his  present  for  having  made  arrangements  for  the 
Tello  trip.  I  brought  an  abba  into  Bedry's  cabin  for 
him,  but  he  dared  not  receive  it  openly,  and  said  that  he 
would  send  a  man  to  fetch  it  quietly  the  next  day.  No 
sooner  had  he  gone  than  Mekota  came  and  asked  if  the 
abba  he  had  seen  brought  in  there  were  for  Shamir. 
Bedry  replied  that  it  was  for  himself,  that  he  had  need  of 
it,  and  had  asked  it  of  me.  A  little  later,  one  of  Meko- 
ta's confidential  men  came  to  him  and  said  that  Mekota 
would  accept  no  present  from  me  but  a  firearm.  Bedry 
replied  that,  as  a  representative  of  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment, he  would  forbid  my  giving  and  Mekota's  receiving 
such  a  gift.  Monday  night  Mekota  borrowed  of  Noorian 
Prince's  shotgun,  representing  that  he  had  left  his  own 
gun  behind.  The  next  morning  Noorian  had  great  diffi- 
culty in  getting  the  gun  back  again,  and,  when  he  finally 
surrendered  it,  Mekota  said,  "  I  am  no  Sheikh,  if  I  can- 
not have  a  gun."  Tuesday  night  there  was  an  alarm  of 
an  attack  by  the  es-Sa'id,  and  a  great  deal  of  shooting 
and  running  around  on  the  part  of  the  Affech.  It  turned 
out  to  be  a  mere  ruse  on   Mekota's  part  to  frighten  the 


284  A'IFPi'R. 

Turks  and  increase  his  claims  on  us.  It  was  very  clum- 
sily executed,  and  took  no  one  in. 

The  next  day,  Wednesday,  almost  everything  was 
packed  and  carried  on  board  the  boat.  Even  our  tents 
were  struck,  and  we  retained  only  our  beds  and  saddle 
bags.  That  evening  we  had  war-dances  on  the  hill,  and 
Mekota  sought  to  show  us  his  importance,  and  that  he 
was  a  great  chief.  One  of  the  songs  which  his  men  sang 
was,  "  We  are  as  the  dogs  of  ]\Iekota, "  while  he  cheered 
them  when  he  led  the  dance  by  singing,  "  When  this 
thing  is  done  you  will  all  be  shirted,"  that  is,  when  we 
have  finished  this  business,  we  shall  have  made  so  much 
money,  that  each  of  you  can  buy  a  shirt.  He  was 
treacherous  and  unreliable,  a  most  dangerous  protector. 
Of  all  our  guards  of  every  sort,  there  were  not  more  than 
half  a  dozen  on  whom  we  could  rely  in  an  emergency. 
We  ourselves  numbered  only  five  rifles. 

Thursday  morning,  our  saddle-bags  strapped,  our  beds 
rolled  up,  we  sat  prepared  to  mount,  waiting  only  for  the 
cook's  things  to  be  packed.  Suddenly  there  was  a  cry  of 
fire.  Fire  had  been  set  to  our  huts  of  reeds  and  mats^ 
while  the  zaptiehs,  who  should  have  been  on  guard,  were 
busy  enriching  themselves  with  the  old  tin  cans  and  other 
rubbish  which  we  had  thrown  away.  A  scene  of  wild 
confusion  ensued.  In  five  minutes  the  camp  was  a 
smoking  ruin.  Three  of  our  horses,  including  my  own, 
were  roasted  to  death.  Most  of  our  effects,  saddle-bags, 
beds,  and  cooking  utensils  were  rescued  and  piled  to- 
gether in  a  heap  which  zaptiehs  were  set  to  guard,  while 
we  sought  to  rescue  more.  But  the  zaptiehs  were  cow- 
ardly and  demoralized,  and  the  Arabs  fell  a-plundering. 
One  rifle  was  lost,  and  two  saddle-bags  were  stolen  from 
under  the  zaptiehs'  very  noses,  they  being  too  frightened 
to  defend  them.  One  of  these,  Hilprecht's,  was  recov- 
ered, but  the  other,  Haynes's,  containing  a  sack  of  about 
two  hundred  liras  in  gold, — for  he,  as  business  manager. 


THE    CATASTROPHE.  285 

had  charge  of  the  cash, — was  not  recovered.  Afterwards 
I  learned  that  Bendir,  Mekota's  secretary,  had  come  into 
the  kitchen  suddenly  when  Haynes  Avas  making  a  pay- 
ment and  observed  where  he  kept  the  money.  Every 
one  seemed  to  think  that  the  fire  was  an  accident,  but  I 
was  convinced  from  what  I  had  seen  that  it  was  kindled 
by  Mekota's  men.  He  sat  a  little  apart  with  a  very  sus- 
picious appearance.  Hamud-el-Berjud  during  the  pro- 
gress of  the  fire  had  sat  upon  the  ground  weeping  and 
beating  his  head,  and  Berdi  also  was  the  picture  of  shame 
and  despair;  Abd-el-Hamud  had  left  the  camp  the  night 
before.  The  immediate  adherents  of  these  men  took  no 
part  in  the  plundering. 

Mekota,  hearing  that  my  horse  had  been  burned, 
offered  me  his  mare,  which  I  refused.  I  called  the 
Mudir,  and  bade  Bedry  tell  him  point  blank  that  it  was 
Mekota  who  had  done  this  thing.  He,  however,  insisted 
that  it  was  an  accident,  and  Bedry  begged  me  not  to 
show  Mekota  my  feelings,  or  we  were  all  dead  men.  He  al- 
so asked  me  to  tell  Noorian  to  pretend  that  he  thought  it 
was  an  accident,  and  to  show  no  suspicion  that  it  was 
Mekota,  I  did  not  believe  in  such  cowardice,  however, 
and  let  Mekota  and  his  followers  see  precisely  what  I 
thought. 

There  was  now  nothing  to  do  but  pack  everything  in 
the  two  boats,  the  men  included,  and  start.  Accord- 
ingly, with  ten  zaptiehs  to  accompany  them,  and  Mekota 
and  Berdi  escorting  them  in  separate  boats,  the  rest  of 
the  party  started  for  Hillah  by  water,  while  Bedry,  Har- 
per and  I,  wuth  one  servant  and  forty  zaptiehs,  set  out 
for  Sukh-el-Affech  and  Diwanieh.  Mehemet  went  along 
disguised  as  an  Arab,  walking,  by  my  direction,  at  my 
stirrup  for  greater  security.  Hamud-el-Berjud  and  the 
Mudir  accompanied  us.  At  Berdi's  village,  Hamud  with 
some  difficult}'  procured  us  a  boat  sufficiently  large  to 
carry  our  party,  and  the  horses  were  sent  around  to  meet 


286  NIPPUR. 

US  at  Sukh-el-Affech.  The  last  that  we  saw  of  Nippur, 
the  es-Sa'id  were  dancing  a  war-dance  on  the  ruins  of 
our  camp. 

I  watched  Hamud  closely  on  the  boat,  and  his  conduct 
confirmed  my  opinion  that  he  had  nothing  to  do  with 
this  treachery,  and  that  to  him  it  was  a  shame  and  a 
mortification.  Before  leaving  the  Sukh,  therefore,  I 
made  Bedry  tell  him  that  I  still  had  trust  in  him,  and 
that  I  did  not  hold  him  responsible  for  the  burning, 
which  I  knew  was  done  by  Mekota's  men.  To  this  he 
replied,  "  You  know."  Afterward  he  assured  me  that 
neither  he,  nor  Berdi,  nor  Abd-el-Hamud  had  anything 
to  do  with  it.  Later,  we  learned  that  he  knew  of  the 
plot,  but  did  not  dare  to  tell  us  for  fear  of  Mekota. 

During  the  first  half  of  our  march  to  Diwanieh,  until 
we  had  crossed  the  Daghara,  all  seemed  apprehensive  of 
trouble.  After  that,  our  women,  being  no  longer  afraid, 
told  of  a  conversation  they  had  overheard  between  Me- 
kota and  Ri'a,  his  kinsman  and  confidential  follower. 
Mekota  asked  Ri'a  why  he  had  "done  this  thing  and 
put  his  (Mekota's)  beard  in  our  hands,  and  nothing  would 
come  into  his  hands."  All  the  last  part  of  the  way  the 
zaptiehs,  brave  when  danger  was  passed,  danced  war- 
dances,  shouted,  and  fired  their  guns.  We  reached 
Diwanieh  after  dark,  and  the  whole  population  joined 
with  our  wild  fellows  in  a  mighty  tumult  and  jubilation 
in  front  of  the  residence  of  the  Kaimakam.  From  Di- 
wanieh Bedry  telegraphed  his  government,  and  I  the 
American  minister,  that  the  Arabs  had  treacherously 
burned  our  camp. 

The  next  day  we  spent  resting,  as  we  were  to  start  for 
Hillah  in  the  evening  and  travel  all  night.  At  sunset  we 
went  to  dine  with  one  of  the  notables  of  the  place,  who, 
after  the  fashion  of  town  Arabs,  did  not  eat  with  us,  but 
served  us.  We  sat  on  the  floor  around  a  low  table.  The 
chief  dish  was  a  lamb  entire,  stuffed  with  rice  and  I  know 


THE    CATASTROPHE.  28/ 

not  what  else,  which  was  v^ery  good.  One  of  the  guests, 
was  a  white-turbaned  imam,  and,  to  our  surprise,  just  as 
dinner  was  ready,  he,  the  Procuror-General,  and  a  major 
arose  and  performed  a  reHgious  service.  After  dinner  we 
were  ferried  across  the  Euphrates,  our  horses  awaiting  us 
on  the  other  side.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  we 
had  reached  Imam  Jasim,  where  we  rested  until  six,  and 
it  was  almost  noon  when  we  reached  the  serai  of  the 
Mutessarif  at  Hillah.  He  wished  to  know  if  I  had  tele- 
graphed to  Constantinople  to  make  any  complaints  or 
demands.  I  told  him  what  I  had  telegraphed,  and  that 
I  did  not  make  any  demands,  but  simply  left  the  matter 
in  the  hands  of  the  government.  He  said  that  they 
would  exact  the  double  of  our  loss,  and  a  heavy  penalty 
in  addition.  We  breakfasted  with  him  and  then  went 
around  to  the  khan,  where  the  rest  joined  us  before  the 
day  was  over. 

Sunday,  the  Wali  Pasha  arrived.  Monday  morning  he 
sent  an  aide-de-camp  to  request  to  see  me,  just  as  I  had 
sent  Noorian  to  ask  when  he  would  receive  me.  I  went 
to  him  at  once.  Like  the  Mutessarif,  he  also  wished  to 
know  whether  I  should  make  any  complaints.  I  told 
him  that  we  were  in  his  hands,  and  waited  to  see  what 
he  would  do.  He  insisted  that  the  fire  was  an  accident, 
and  reproved  Bedry  severely  for  having  telegraphed  to 
Constantinople  that  the  camp  was  burned  by  the  Arabs 
intentionally.  Of  course  he  promised  reparation,  and 
that  it  should  be  made  practicable  for  us  to  return  next 
year.  In  the  afternoon  he  returned  my  call.  He  was 
very  suspicious  regarding  our  antiquities,  and  when  we 
left  the  next  morning  he  detailed  an  officer  to  follow  us 
to  Baghdad  and  watch  us.  Privately  he  expressed  the 
opinion  that  we  had  lost  no  money,  and  I  believe  he 
thought  that  the  whole  thing  was  a  plot  between  Bedry 
and  ourselves  to  cover  the  transfer  to  us  of  the  antiquities 
excavated,  so  bad  was  Bedry's  reputation,  and  so  unfor- 


288  NIPPUR. 

tunate  had  been  the  Wall's  experiences  with  archaeolo- 
gists of  other  nations. 

It  was  two  o'clock  on  Wednesday  mornin^j  when  we 
left  Hillah,  and  noon  of  the  same  day  when  we  reached 
Baghdad.  On  the  way  Harper  handed  me  his  resigna- 
tion in  writing.  Field  gave  me  his  when  we  reached 
Baghdad.  Haynes  stated  that  he  would  resign,  but  did 
not  put  his  resignation  in  writing.  Hilprecht  communi- 
cated directly  with  the  Committee.  Noorian,  who  knew 
better  than  any  of  us  the  feeling  of  the  Arabs,  handed 
me  a  written  statement  to  the  effect  that  he  would  under 
no  circumstances  return  to  Nippur,  as  he  believ^ed  that 
his  life  would  be  endangered  by  doing  so.  In  general, 
they  all  felt  that  the  excavations  had  not  yielded  satisfac- 
tory results,  and  that  Nippur  was  not  a  promising  site  for 
further  work.  Hilprecht,  particularly,  was  of  the  opinion 
that  whatever  Nippur  might  originally  have  been,  all 
vestiges  of  the  ancient  city  had  been  destroyed,  and  that 
the  buildings  of  which  we  had  found  remains  were  of  the 
Sassanian  period. 

Our  first  year  at  Nippur  had  ended  in  failure  and  dis- 
aster. I  had  failed  to  win  the  confidence  of  my  com- 
rades. None  of  them  agreed  with  me  in  my  belief  in  the 
importance  of  Nippur,  and  the  desirability  of  excavating 
down  to  the  foundations.  The  Arabs  had  proved  treach- 
erous. The  Turkish  authorities  disbelieved  our  story  of 
Arab  treachery,  and  suspected  us  of  plotting  with  our 
Turkish  commissioner  to  carry  away  antiquities.  I  was 
sick  and  nervous,  having  suffered  for  two  months  almost 
incessantly  from  severe  facial  neuralgia  and  consequent 
sleeplessness.  In  fact,  I  was  on  the  verge  of  collapse, 
and  the  world  had  never  seemed  quite  so  black  before. 

I  had  come  out  originally  with  the  intention  of  remain- 
ing one  year  only,  for  the  purpose  merely  of  starting 
excavations  in  Babylonia.  I  had  hoped  that  at  the  end 
of  that  time  some  one  else  would  take  my  place,   and 


THE    CATASTROPHE.  289 

allow  me  to  return  home.  But  as  it  gradually  became 
clear  that  the  excavations  of  the  first  year  would  not  be 
so  successful  as  I  had  hoped  they  might  be,  I  had 
reached  the  conclusion  that  it  was  my  duty  to  remain  a 
second  year.  I  now  felt  that  this  was  an  absolute  neces- 
sity, that  unless  I  remained  Nippur  would  be  abandoned, 
and  that  the  whole  cause  of  Babylonian  exploration 
would  receive  a  serious  set-back.  I  wrote  to  the  Com- 
mittee that  in  my  judgment  I  should  go  to  Constanti- 
nople, make  arrangements  with  the  Turkish  Government 
and  the  Museum  authorities,  and  return  to  Nippur  in  the 
autumn  with  Haynes  and  Noorian,  who,  I  was  confident, 
after  they  had  had  time  to  think  the  matter  over,  would 
be  willing  to  go  with  me.  But  before  I  had  had  time  to 
despatch  this  letter,  I  received  a  cable  recalling  me  to 
America,  and  instructing  Hilprecht  to  remain  in  Bagh- 
dad. This  he,  howev^er,  declined  to  do.  Fortunately, 
at  this  moment  Haynes  received  his  exequatur  as  consul, 
which  obliged  him  to  remain.  I  therefore  turned  over 
the  effects  of  the  Expedition  to  him  and  started  at  once 
for  America  with  Hilprecht  and  Harper.  Field  had 
already  gone  on.  Noorian  remained  with  Haynes  to  await 
developments. 

It  chanced  that  four  emigrant  wagons  from  Aleppo 
had  arrived  at  Baghdad  a  few  days  before,  conve}'ing 
some  wealthy  Turk  and  his  harem.  I  engaged  two  of 
these,  and  a  Turkish  pasha,  Salih,  who  was  returning 
from  his  post  to  Constantinople,  secured  the  other  two 
for  himself  and  his  harem.  It  was  the  2d  of  May  when 
we  made  our  start,  but  it  turned  out  that  the  two  wagons 
of  the  Pasha  were  not  sufficient  for  his  party,  and  about 
an  hour  from  Baghdad  we  came  to  a  halt  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  a  Jewish  shrine,  said  to  be  the  tomb  of 
Joshua,  son  of  Jehozedek,  the  high  priest,  but  which  the 
Moslems  claim  as  the  shrine  of  St.  Yusuf.  Here  we 
waited  all  that  day  for  extra  baggage  animals   for  the 

VOL.  I — IQ 


290  NIPP  UP. 

Pasha.  I  visited  the  tomb,  which  consisted  of  a  court 
with  a  gallery  above  it.  This  swarmed  with  people  of 
both  sexes,  amusing  themselves,  and  with  vendors  of  all 
sorts  of  edibles.  At  the  western  end  was  the  shrine 
proper,  quite  highly  decorated  within  in  rich  colors.  In 
this  was  a  large  brass  tomb,  about  which  a  crowd  of  peo- 
ple was  constantly  moving,  devoutly  kissing  it.  In  an 
alcove  to  the  north  of  the  tomb  burned  little  lights  for 
the  sick,  a  custom  common  to  Christians,  Jews,  and 
Moslems  in  that  region. 

That  evening  began  the  fast  of  Ramadhan,  which 
added  to  the  difficulties  of  our  journey,  making  it  harder 
to  obtain  food  supplies  in  the  villages  on  the  way.  The 
next  day  we  found  the  bridge  across  the  Euphrates  at 
Kal'at  Feluja  broken  by  the  flood,  and  were  compelled 
to  delay  there  one  day,  which  delay  I  utilized  to  make  a 
more  careful  examination  of  'Anbar.  Hilprecht  had 
been  taken  ill  as  the  consequence  of  exposure  the  pre- 
ceding night,  when,  awakened  by  a  fight  among  the 
horses,  in  alarm,  not  knowing  where  he  was  nor  what 
was  happening,  he  started  in  his  night-clothes  for  Bagh- 
dad, first  falling  out  of  bed  and  spraining  his  wrist. 

Our  route  was  almost  exactly  the  same  as  that  by 
which  we  had  descended,  excepting  only  that  on  account 
of  the  narrowness  of  the  street,  we  were  unable  to  pass 
through  the  town  of  'Anah,  and  compelled  to  keep  on  the 
pla.teau,  and  in  general  our  course  w^as  somewhat  more 
along  the  plateau  than  on  the  descent.  At  one  place  we 
found  the  Anazeh  engaged  in  a  raid  against  the  Sham- 
mar  of  Sheikh  Paris.  We  were  encamped  among  them, 
and  had  an  interesting  opportunity  to  watch  their  method 
of  crossing  the  river  by  means  of  inflated  skins.  Salih 
Pasha  sent  for  their  chief,  Fehid  Bey,  with  whom  we  had 
quite  an  interesting  conversation.  I  also  saw  somewhat 
more  of  the  natives  of  the  valley  on  the  way  up  than  I 
had  done  coming  down,  and   they  appeared  even  more 


THE    CATASTROPHE.  29 1 

miserable,  ground  down  between  the  bedouin  Arabs  on 
the  one  side  and  the  Turkish  tax-gatherers  on  the  other. 

Between  Meskene  and  Aleppo  our  route  was  shghtly 
different  from  that  pursued  by  us  in  December.  We 
went  farther  to  the  south,  spending  a  night  at  a  place 
called  Jedeyda,  on  the  Nahr  Dhahab,  close  to  Lake 
Sabakhah,  This  occupies  the  place  assigned  to  Jebre  on 
Kiepert's  map.  It  is  a  village  composed  partly  of  cone 
huts  and  partly  of  square  mud  huts.  By  the  side  of  it 
there  was  a  small  natural  hill  of  pebbles,  and  around  it, 
irrigated  by  the  stream,  were  pomegranate  gardens  and  a 
mill.  Jebbul,  the  ancient  Gabbula,  the  largest  town  in 
that  region,  was  within  sight,  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Sabakhah,  half  an  hour  away,  near  the  western  end  of 
the  lake.  Close  to  Jebbul  on  the  lake  shore  was  a  large 
tel  of  curious  shape,  w^hich  the  natives  said  was  a  haraba, 
or  ruin,  called  Wastha.  About  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
away,  north  thirty  degrees  east  from  us,  was  a  fair-sized 
tel  called  Saba' in.  The  principal  industry  of  the  neigh- 
borhood seemed  to  be  the  cultivation  of  licorice.  Salt  is 
collected  at  the  lake  in  autumn  and  winter  when  the 
water  is  low. 

From  Jedeyda  to  Jebrin  was  a  ride  in  our  wagons  of 
three  hours  and  a  half.  From  that  point  on  to  Aleppo, 
our  road  was  the  same  as  before.  Scarcely  had  we  en- 
tered the  hotel,  Saturday,  May  25th,  when  a  violent 
storm  of  rain  and  hail  broke.  The  hail  fell  in  enormous 
quantities,  and  the  next  afternoon  people  were  still  busy 
bringing  horseloads  of  hailstones  into  the  city  to  serve 
as  ice,  and  I  saw  in  the  fields  great  masses  of  hailstones 
lying  in  heaps  where  they  had  fallen  and  been  a  little 
protected  from  melting  by  mud,  or  water,  or  grain  stalks. 

This  trip  from  Baghdad  to  the  coast  remains  in  my 
mind  as  one  horrible  nightmare.  A  letter  written  imme- 
diately afterwards  will  give  a  sufficient  idea  of  the  general 
character  of  our  journey: 


292  NIPPUR. 

"  There  has  been  a  period  which  has  been  a  sort  of 
blank  of  everything  but  suffering,  from  the  time  I  left 
Nippur  until  I  reached  Addalia,  at  the  head  of  the  Gulf 
of  Addalia,or  Pamphylia,  two  or  three  days  since.  Dur- 
ing that  time  I  had  neither  the  physical  nor  moral 
strength  to  do  more  than  was  forced  upon  me  by  the 
actual  necessities  of  the  moment.  I  left  Baghdad 
by  wagon,  accompained  by  Harper  and  Hilprecht, 
on  the  2d  of  May.  We  had  two  wagons,  and  a  pasha 
with  his  harem  had  two.  The  trip  by  wagon,  it  was 
supposed,  would  be  shorter  and  easier  than  by  horses, 
or  mules  and  camels,  and  no  boat  was  leaving  for 
a  fortnight.  In  reality,  it  proved  to  be  a  terrible  trip, 
and  instead  of  taking  us  twenty  days  to  reach  the  coast, 
it  took  twenty-six.  There  is  no  road,  and  the  ground 
cannot  be  called  level.  We  stuck  in  morasses,  we  as- 
cended and  descended  such  precipices  as  I  had  supposed 
it  impossible  for  wagons  to  overcome.  Once  my  wagon 
upset,  and  one  night  we  got  lost,  and  a  wagon  containing 
six  women  and  children  of  the  good  old  pasha  (for  he 
was  as  good  as  gold,  and  we  never  could  have  gotten  on 
without  him)  upset  as  he  and  I  were  walking  just  behind 
it.  We  travelled  all  day,  and  the  perpetual  motion  and 
bounding  and  bumping  of  those  springless  wagons  would 
result  in  a  nervous  rather  than  a  muscular  fatigue.  The 
food  was  not  very  nourishing,  and  we  suffered  much  from 
loss  of  sleep,  partly  owing  to  violent  and  frequent  rain- 
storms, partly  to  sandflies, — an  insect  peculiar  to  the 
region,  and  combining  all  the  worst  features  of  the  flea 
and  the  mosquito, — and  partly  to  other  disturbances  inci- 
dental to  the  route.  I  think  that  if  I  had  been  in  good 
condition  to  start  with,  I  should  have  been  able  to  make 
light  of  it  all;  but  I  was  not  in  a  condition  to  resist  the 
strain,  and  day  after  day  I  suffered  more  and  more  from 
face-ache,  showing  an  increase  of  nervous  debility.  This 
also    interfered    sadly   with    my   rest.        Moreover,    both 


THE    CATASTROPHE.  293 

Harper  and  Hilprecht  were  ailing.  For  the  first  half  of 
the  route  the  latter  was  the  sick  one,  then  Harper  began 
to  break  up,  and  by  the  time  we  reached  the  coast  he 
was  quite  ill.  I  finally  got  the  fever  by  sleeping  out  in 
the  rain  to  make  him  comfortable  in  the  tent,  for  the 
poor  fellow  was  in  an  awful  state,  and  for  three  the  tent 
was  close  quarters.  Fortunately,  we  all  found  steamers 
at  Alexandretta.  Harper  and  Hilprecht  started  on  a 
French  steamer  via  Alexandria  the  day  we  arrived,  and 
the  next  day  I  left  on  a  Turkish  merchant  steamer  for 
Constantinople." 


APPENDIX  A. 

SUBSCRIPTION   PAPER   OF   THE   BABYLONIAN 
EXPLORATION   FUND. 

WE,  the  undersigned,  subscribe  the  sums  set  opposite 
our   names   respectively,  to  be  paid,    as   set    forth 
below,  to  E.  W.  Clark,  Esq.,  Treasurer,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  sending  an  exploring  expedition  to  Babylonia  undei:  the 
lead  of  the  Rev.  John  P.  Peters. 

These  sums  are  subscribed  under  the  following  conditions  : 

(a)  All  finds  which  can  be  exported  are  to  be  brought  to 
the  City  of  Philadelphia  and  to  become  the  property  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  provided  the  said  University  fur- 
nish suitable  accommodations  for  the  same  in  a  fire-proof  build- 
ing ;  otherwise  they  shall  be  deposited  in  such  place  as  may 
be  hereafter  decided  by  vote  of  the  subscribers. 

(i)  No  subscription  shall  be  binding  unless  a  sum  not  less 
than  Fifteen  Thousand  Dollars  ($15,000)  be  subscribed  by  the 
first  day  of  March,  1S88. 

(r)  The  subscriptions  are  to  be  paid,  one  half  upon  our  be- 
ing advised  that  the  sum  required  has  been  secured,  and  one 
half  thereafter  upon  the  call  of  the  Treasurer,  as  the  same  is 
needed  for  the  prosecution  of  the  work  ;  or,  in  case  the  total 
sum  subscribed  amounts  to  Thirty  Thousand  Dollars  ($30,000), 
one  third  to  be  paid  upon  our  being  advised  that  the  sum  re- 
quired has  been  secured,  and  the  balance  in  two  payments 
thereafter,  upon  the  call  of  the  Treasurer,  as  required  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  work. 

{d)  The  supervision  of  the  Expedition  to  be  entrusted  to  a 
committee  of  five  to  be  selected  by  the  subscribers. 

295 


296 


XIPPUJi. 


The  following  tabulated  statement  shows  the  sums  actually 
contributed  during  the  years  1888-90  by  thirty-two  subscribers. 

BAYLONIAN    EXPLORATION    FUND    SUBSCRIPTIONS. 


C.  D.  Reed, 

J.  Losvber  Welsh, 

\V,  G.  Warden, 

S.  A.  Crozer, 

Henry  C.  Lea, 

W.  E.  Oarrett,  Jr., 

C.  C.  Harrison, 

W.  W.  Justice, 

Jos.  Wiiarton,  Jr., 

Geo.  C.  Thomas, 

Rev.  H.  Clay  Trumbull, 

E.  \V.  Clark, 
Allan  IMarquand, 
J.  V.  Merrick, 
Alexander  Brown, 
Wm.  Weightman, 
J.  C.  Strawbridge, 
Henry  C.  Gibson, 
Joseph  Jeanes, 
Samuel  Jeanes, 
Anna  T.  Jeanes, 
H.  H.  Houston, 
Stuart  Wood, 
George  W.  Childs, 
Jos.  b.  Potts, 

W.  W.  Frazier, 
C.  H.  Clark, 

F.  S.  Kimball, 
Dr.  Wm.  Pepper, 
J.  Hinckley  Clark, 
Horace  Jayne, 
Enoch  Lewis, 


For  Antiquities  : 
W.  W.  Frazier, 
C.  C.   Harrison, 
C.  H.  Clark, 
E.  W.  Clark, 
Stuart  Wood, 
Dr.  W^m.  Pepper, 


1SS8 


f  500. 00 
250.00 
500.00 
500.00 
500.00 
500.00 
500.00 

50.00 
125.00 

50.00 
100.00 
500.00 

25.00 
125.00 
500.00 
250.00 
250.00 
500.00 
250.00 
250.00 
250.00 
500.00 
250.00 
250.00 
500.00 
500.00 
500.00 

50.00 


1SS9 


^1,000.00 

500.00 

1,000.00 

50.00 

125.00 

50.00 

1,000.00 
100.00 
250.00 

1,000.00 
750.00 
250.00 

1,000.00 
250.00 
250.00 
250.00 

1,000.00 
250.00 
250.00 

1,000.00 

1,000.00 

1,000.00 
50.00 

1,500.00 
100.00 
750.00 


,025.00 


$14,725.00 

1,083.33 
1,083.33 
1,083.33 
1,083.33 
1,083.33 
1,083.33 


i8go 


$500.00 
1,000.00 
1,000.00 


100.00 
1,500.00 


125.00 
500.00 


500.00 
500.00 

500.00 

1,000.00 

500.00 

100.00 

1,500.00 

500.00 
50.00 


^,875.00 


025.00  $21,224,981  $9,875.00  $40,124, 


The  total  amount  received  by  the  Treasurer  was  $40,124.98  ; 
but  of  this  $6,500  was  subscribed,  not  for  the  Expedition  pro- 


APPENDIX  A.  297 

per,  but  for  the  purchase  of  antiquities.  The  antiquities  pur- 
chased with  this  money  through  the  agency  of  members  of  the 
Expedition  included  the  two  Shemtob  collections  of  Baby- 
Ionian  antiquities,  purchased  in  London  ;  the  similar  Khabaza 
collection  ;  a  collection  of  Cappadocian  tablets  ;  a  consider- 
able number  of  seal  cylinders  ;  Palmyrene  busts,  and  various 
other  objects  ;  plaster  reproductions  of  the  Nippur  mounds  ; 
and  a  collection  of  plaster  casts  of  Assyrian  and  Babylonian 
monuments  ;  all  of  which  are  now  in  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania Museum  in  Philadelphia.  A  small  collection  of 
Babylonian  objects  purchased  for  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania Museum,  by  Mr.  Prince,  through  Professor  Hilprecht,  is 
not  included  in  this  account,  since  the  money  did  not  pass 
through  the  Treasurer's  hands. 


APPENDIX  B. 

FIRST  APPLICATION   FOR   PERMISSION   TO   EXCAVATE, 

MADE   THROUGH   THE   TURKISH   MINISTER   IN 

WASHINGTON. 

To  His  Excellency,  Mavroyetii  Bey,  Envoy  Extraordi?iary  a?id 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  his  Imperial  Majesty,  the  Sultan 
of  Turkey. 

Sir  : — An  Expedition  under  the  auspices  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  has  been  organized  to  excavate  some  of  the 
ruins  of  the  ancient  cities  of  Mesopotamia,  in  the  present 
Vilayets  of  Baghdad  and  Haleb,  provided  that  permission  to 
do  so  can  be  obtained  from  his  Imperial  Majesty,  the  Sultan 
of  Turkey,  We  therefore  address  ourselves  to  you  to  learn 
whether  and  in  what  form  such  permission  can  be  granted. 

The  object  of  our  enterprise  is  entirely  scientific.  We  rep- 
resent no  religious  body,  nor  have  we  any  religious  object  in 
view  in  this  excavation.  Neither  have  we  any  commercial  in- 
terests. The  Expedition  has  solely  scientific  objects  in  view, 
and  is  conducted  solely  by  scientific  men,  interested  in  the 
excavation  of  those  ancient  cities  for  the  purpose  of  increas- 
ing knowledge.  Of  these  facts  we  beg  that  your  Excellency 
will  assure  yourself  by  the  most  careful  examination. 

Furthermore,  we  beg  leave  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact 
that  this  Expedition  Avill  be  under  the  control  of,  and  sent  out 
by,  a  private  Institution  formed  solely  for  purposes  of  study 
and  research.  There  is  therefore  no  possible  political  motive 
in  this  Expedition,  nor  danger  of  political  complications  aris- 
nig  out  of  it,  since  we  represent  a  scientific  Institution  disburs- 
ing the  funds  of  private  individuals  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
advancing  knowledge  of  the  ancient  world. 

2g8 


APPEXDIX  B.  299 

Further,  we  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  this 
Expedition  goes  out  from  a  country  which  is  in  no  way  involved 
in  European  politics,  and  that  the  citizens  of  this  country, 
comprising  this  Expedition,  can  have  no  interest  in  such  mat- 
ters ;  and  that  this  country  and  its  citizens  have  always  stood 
in  the  most  friendly  relations  to  the  empire  and  subjects  of  the 
Ottoman  Porte. 

It  is  our  intention,  if  the  permission  of  his  Imperial  Majesty 
be  obtained,  to  conduct  excavations  for  a  series  of  years,  em- 
ploying workmen  engaged  in  the  country,  and  hence  expend- 
ing money  there,  to  the  manifest  advantage  of  the  people 
employed,  and  the  increase,  to  that  extent,  of  the  resources 
of  the  region  in  which  our  explorations  shall  be  conducted. 

Inasmuch  as  it  is  impossible  to  determine  beforehand  the 
exact  spot  in  which  such  excavations  as  we  propose  to  make 
should  be  conducted,  and  inasmuch  as  this  must  often  be  de- 
termined after  investigations  conducted  on  the  spot,  or  even 
after  preliminary  excavations  have  been  made  on  a  small  scale, 
we  would  therefore  ask  that  we  be  permitted  to  excavate  within 
the  Vilayets  of  Baghdad  and  Haleb,  but  more  especially  within 
the  Vilayet  of  Baghdad,  in  such  places  as  shall  not  be  excepted 
by  reason  of  grants  to  others  ;  but  that  this  permission  con- 
stitute no  claim  on  any  ruins  within  the  boundaries  assigned 
other  than  those  in  which  we  shall  actually  conduct  excava- 
tions. 

Inasmuch  as  a  considerable  period  of  time  is  necessary  for 
the  conducting  of  such  excavations  as  are  referred  to  above, 
we  would  ask  that  a  permission  be  granted  to  us  to  excavate 
in  the  manner  and  in  the  regions  above  narrated  during  the 
period  of  ten  years,  beginning  with  this  current  year. 

We  should  expect  to  take  with  our  Expedition  a  photog- 
rapher, and  we  should  send  to  the  Museum  of  his  Imperial 
Majesty  copies  of  all  photographs  taken,  as  also  casts  or 
squeezes  of  all  inscriptions,  as  also  copies  of  all  publications 
issued  ultimately  in  connection  with  the  Expedition.  On  the 
other  hand  we  hope  to  obtain  permission  to  bring  back  to  this 
country  as  considerable  a  portion  of  the  inscribed  bricks, 
stones,  and  other  articles  (exclusive  of  the  precious  metals, 


300  XIPFUK. 

gold  and  silver)  as  it  may  consist  with  the  liberality  and  gen- 
erosity of  his  Imi)erial  Majesty  to  permit.  For  this  country  is 
new  and  without  Museums,  and  his  Imperial  Majesty  would 
win  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  scholars  and  citizens  of  this 
country  at  large,  if  out  of  the  abundant  antiquities  of  his  Em- 
pire he  would  permit  us  to  take  such  small  part,  now  lying 
disregarded  and  unused,  as  should  enable  us  to  teach  and 
show  our  coming  scholars  something  of  the  history  of  the  old 
world.  We  would  gladly  pack  and  send  to  the  Museum  of  his 
Imperial  Majesty  all  duplicates  of  articles  found,  of  which 
there  are  always  in  fact  very  many,  and  especially  of  the  most 
important. 

We  hope  that  his  Imperial  Majesty  will  be  disposed  to  give 
a  favorable  ear  to  our  desires,  and  pray  your  Excellency  to 
present  to  his  Majesty  the  request  that  a  permission  to  exca- 
vate under  the  terms  and  in  the  territory  and  for  the  purposes 
above  specified  be  granted  to  Rev.  John  P.  Peters,  Professor 
in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 

We  hope  that  your  Excellency  will  also  show  yourself  favor- 
ably disposed  toward  a  work  thus  undertaken  for  the  advance- 
ment of  knowledge,  and  will  render  us  such  assistance  as  may 
be  within  your  power. 

Signed  at  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  this  twenty-third  day 
of  February,  i8S8. 

The  Trustees  of  the  University 
OF  Pennsylvania. 

By  Wm.  Pepper, 

Provost. 


APPENDIX   C. 

IRADE   GRANTING   PERiMISSION   TO   EXCAVATE. 

IN  behalf  of  the  trustees  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  United  States  Legation  at  Constantinople  has  applied 
for  permission  to  excavate  for  antiquities  at  Birs  Nimrod, 
in  the  district  of  Hillali,  and  at  a  place  called  Tel  Niffer,  in 
the  subdistrict  of  Divaniah,  both  belonging  to  the  Vilayet  of 
Baghdad  ;  and  subject  to  the  following  conditions  this  permis- 
sion is  herewith  granted  : 

(i)  According  to  the  laws  relating  thereto,  all  the  antiqui- 
ties discovered  shall  revert  to  the  Imperial  Museum. 

(2)  The  objects  found  shall  be  kept  in  a  safe  place  appointed 
by  the  Government,  through  the  commissioner,  and  the  exca- 
vators shall  not  touch  or  meddle  with  them. 

(3)  Excavations  shall  not  be  begun  until  maps  of  the  places 
to  be  excavated  are  approved  by  the  Vali  (governor-general) 
of  the  glorious  city  of  Baghdad. 

(4)  Excavations  shall  not  extend  beyond  the  limits  shown 
by  the  maps  ;  nor  shall  excavations  be  made  in  more  than  one 
place  at  the  same  time. 

(5)  If  there  be  discovered  any  attempt  to  defraud  the 
Government  in  any  way  and  by  reason  thereof  the  excava- 
tions be  stopped,  the  excavators  shall  claim  no  damages  for 
losses  accruing  from  the  delay. 

(6)  If  excavations  do  not  begin,  or  if  begun  are  not  finished, 
during  the  period  for  which  this  permission  is  granted,  the  ex- 
cavators are  obliged  to  obtain  a  new  permission  before  they 
can  prosecute  further  excavations. 

(7)  If,  at  the  end  of  the  excavations  or  before,  the  Govern- 

301 


302  NIPPUR. 

ment  be  duly  notified  and  the  excavators  are  proven  to  have 
walked  according  to  the  statutes  of  the  law,  the  bond-money 
deposited  by  the  excavators  shall  be  returned. 

(8)  If  without  good  reason  excavations  do  not  begin  within 
three  months  after  this  permission  has  been  passed  over  to  the 
excavators  by  the  A-^ali  of  Baghdad,  or  if  without  good  reason 
the  excavations  shall  stop  at  any  time  for  two  months,  this 
permission  is  null  and  void. 

(9)  The  permission  can  not  be  transferred  to  another  party 
or  sold. 

(10)  The  excavators  shall  pay  the  salary  of  the  commis- 
sioner appointed  by  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  to 
accompany  them. 

Finally  :  the  excavators  shall  strictly  fulfil  all  the  above 
conditions,  then  the  excavators  may  purchase  such  part  of  the 
objects  found  as  may  seem  superfluous  to  the  Imperial  Mu- 
seum if,  after  the  price  has  been  agreed  upon,  the  supreme 
court  of  Bab  el-Aali  consent  to  the  sale  thereof. 

Therefore,  for  the  period  of  two  years  to  the  above  men- 
tioned trustees  this  as  a  permission  has  been  given. 
Grand  Vizier 

Mehmed  Kiamil  ben  Sallih. 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction — Muniff. 
Nov.  19,  1304  ;  and  First  Spring  27,  1306. 


APPENDIX  D. 

TRANSLATION   OF  TURKISH    LAW  ON   ARCH.-EOLOGICAL 
EXCAVATIONS. 

Art.  I,  The  remains  left  by  the  ancient  populations  of  the 
States  forming  at  present  the  dominions  of  the  Ottoman  Em- 
pire,— that  is  to  say,  the  gold  and  silver  and  other  ancient 
coins,  and  the  inscriptions  containing  reference  to  history,  and 
statues  and  sepultures  and  ornamental  objects  in  clay,  stone, 
and  other  materials,  utensils,  arms,  tools,  statuettes,  ring-stones, 
temples,  palaces,  circuses,  theatres,  fortifications,  bridges, 
aqueducts,  bodies  and  objects  in  tombs,  burying  mounds, 
mausoleums  and  columns, — are  regarded  as  antiquities. 

Art,  2.  In  general,  the  right  of  ownership  of  all  the  an- 
tiquities is  regulated  by  the  present  law. 

Art.  3.  All  the  antiquities  discovered  in  the  Ottoman  ter- 
ritory, be  it  on  the  surface,  underground  or  exhumed,  picked 
up  in  the  sea,  the  lakes,  the  rivers,  the  streams,  or  the  valleys, 
are  the  property  of  the  Government. 

Art.  4.  The  monuments  of  antiquity  which  happen  to  be 
in  the  property  or  houses  of  private  persons,  either  loose  or 
built  in  the  walls,  cannot  be  moved  by  the  proprietors  of  the 
property  ;  and  for  the  keeping  of  those  antiquities  in  their 
original  place  the  Government  has  inaugurated  the  following 
measures  : 

Art.  5.  It  is  forbidden  to  destroy  the  antiquities  which 
may  be  discovered  on  one's  land,  like  buildings,  roads,  walls 
of  castles  and  fortresses,  baths,  tombs,  and  other  things  ;  and 
in  order  not  to  occasion  any  damage  to  antiquities,  they  will 
refrain  from  establishing  any  lime-kiln  at  a  distance  less  than 

303 


304  ly/FFCR. 

half  a  kilometre  from  the  spot  where  the  antiquities  are  to  be 
found  ;  or  from  the  erection  of  any  kind  of  building  and 
works  which  would  be  injurious  ;  or  to  remove  the  stones  of 
tumbled-down  ancient  monuments  ;  from  measuring  or  taking 
moulds  ;  or  of  placing  ladders  on  them  for  any  purpose  what- 
soever ;  from  appropriating  or  restoring  old  buildings  and 
making  use  of  them  in  part  or  in  all  ;  or  to  use  them  for  de- 
posits of  grain,  straw,  or  hay,  or  to  use  them  as  tanks,  or  for 
cattle,  or  turn  them  into  fountains,  or  to  use  them  for  other 
purposes. 

Art.  6.  The  places  on  which  the  Government  has  decided 
to  make  excavations  may  be  bought  from  their  owners,  if 
they  are  in  the  hands  of  private  persons  or  societies  ;  if  they 
refuse  to  sell,  the  regulation  on  expropriation  for  public  uses 
shall  be  applied  in  order  to  buy  that  property. 

Art.  7.  No  one  is  allowed  to  make  excavations,  to  extract 
or  appropriate  antiquities  in  the  Ottoman  dominions  without 
having  previously  obtained  the  official  permit  in  accordance 
with  the  present  regulation. 

Art.  8.  The  exportation  of  antiquities  found  within  Otto- 
man territory  is  absolutely  forbidden. 

Art.  9.  The  jjermit  for  the  excavation  and  exhumation  of 
antiquities  may  be  granted  to  private  persons  or  to  any  scien- 
tific society.  The  terms  of  that  permit  must  be  in  accordance 
with  the  conditions  of  the  present  regulation. 

Art.  10.  As  to  the  searches  and  excavations  for  antiquities, 
after  the  opinion  of  the  administration  of  the  Imperial  Mu- 
seum and  the  conclusions  of  the  Council  of  Public  Instruction 
have  been  obtained,  and  after  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion has  submitted  the  case  to  the  Sublime  Porte,  the  final 
permit  will  be  granted  in  accordance  with  the  terms  contained 
in  the  third  chapter  of  the  present  regulation. 

Art,  II.  A  duplicate  list  describing  the  quantity  and  the 
quality  of  the  objects  excavated  must  be  made  on  the  printed 
blanks  to  be  furnished  by  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction, 
which  must  be  signed  and  certified  ;  then  one  of  the  copies 
will  remain  with  the  excavator  and  the  other  with  the  Board 
of  Public  Instruction  ;  where  such   Boards  do  not  exist,  they 


APPEXDIX  D.  305 

will  be  recorded  in  the  books  kept  for  the  purpose  by  the 
local  authorities  and  sent  to  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction. 

Art.  12.  The  antiquities  excavated  with  an  official  permit 
belong  to  the  Imperial  Museum,  and  the  excavators  have  only 
the  right  to  take  drawings  or  moulds. 

Art.  13.  The  antiquities  discovered  without  permit  are 
confiscated ;  and  if  the  excavator  has  already  disposed  of 
them,  he  will  pay  their  value. 

Art.  14.  The  antiquities  which  may  be  discovered  by 
accident  in  digging  the  foundations  of  a  building  or  of  a  wall 
or  of  a  sewer  shall  be  divided  in  equal  parts  between  the 
owner  of  the  property  and  the  Government  ;  and  then  at  the 
division  of  those  antiquities,  as  the  Government  had  the 
choice  of  taking  such  as  it  thinks  proper  on  paying  their 
value,  it  may  get  from  the  land  owner,  out  of  those  which  have 
fallen  to  his  share,  such  a  portion  as  it  wants. 

Art.  15.  Those  who  desire  to  undertake  excavations  of 
antiquities  shall  prepare  a  topographical  plan  showing  the 
boundaries  of  the  spot  to  be  excavated,  and  present  it  at  Con- 
stantinople to  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  ;  and,  if  they 
are  in  the  provinces  of  the  Governors-General,  with  written 
request,  and  the  Governors-General  will  forward  it  together 
with  their  report  of  their  investigation  of  the  subject  to  the 
Ministry  of  Public  Instruction. 

Art.  16.  The  delivery  of  the  permit  of  excavation  apper- 
tains to  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  after  agreement 
with  the  direction  of  the  Imperial  Museum,  but  unless  the 
necessary  investigations  are  made  and,  according  to  Article  10, 
the  consent  of  the  Sublime  Porte  is  obtained,  this  permit  can 
not  be  given. 

Art.  17.  The  permit  for  excavating  antiquities  can  only 
be  granted  under  the  following  conditions  : 

1.  After  having  ascertained  that  it  will  cause  no  obstruction 
to  the  forts,  fortifications,  public  buildings,  nor  interfere  with 
public  utility. 

2.  If  the  excavations  are  to  take  place  in  the  landed  prop- 
erty of  a  private  person,  to  satisfy  the  owner. 

3.  The  pecuniary  security  which  will  be  agreed  upon  by 

VOL.  1—20 


3o6  Nipp  UP. 

the  Director  of  the  Imperial  Museum  must  be  actually  de- 
posited. 

After  the  fulfilment  of  those  conditions  the  Ministry  of 
Public  Instruction,  after  having  conformed  to  the  prescrip- 
tions of  the  preceding  article,  delivers  the  permit. 

But  no  permit  can  be  granted  for  more  than  two  years. 
And  if,  before  beginning  the  excavations,  or  even  after  having 
begun  them,  for  some  reason  the  period  of  the  permit  is 
allowed  to  pass  and  the  explorer  wants  to  continue  his  re- 
searches,— if  there  is  no  objection  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Instruction,  after  an  agreement  with  the  Director  of  the 
Museum,  may  grant  a  permit  for  an  additional  period  not 
longer  than  one  year. 

Art.  i8.  The  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  will  collect 
on  the  permits  of  excavation  on  account  of  the  Museum  :  on 
a  permit  from  one  day  to  six  months,  5  liras  ;  on  a  permit 
from  six  months  to  one  year,  10  liras  ;  on  a  permit  from  one 
year  to  two  years,  20  liras. 

Art.  19.  If,  after  having  obtained  the  permit,  the  excava- 
tions are  not  commenced  within  the  period  of  three  months 
from  its  date,  or  after  having  commenced  then  they  should 
be  discontinued  for  two  montlis,  the  permit  will  be  annulled  : 
and  if  the  explorer  wants  to  renew  it  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Instruction,  with  the  Director  of  the  Museum,  may  continue 
or  not  the  old  permit  ;  or  cancel  it  and  furnish  a  new  one  in 
its  place. 

Art.  20.  The  permit  for  excavation  shall  not  embrace  a 
larger  area  than  ten  square  kilometres.  If  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  excavations  an  objection  is  found  on  the 
part  of  the  Government,  on  the  order  of  the  Ministry  of  Pub- 
lic Instruction  the  works  shall  be  temporarily  stopped,  and 
the  time  of  stoppage  shall  be  accounted  for  in  the  period  of 
the  permit,  and  the  explorer  will  have  no  claim  for  expenses 
or  damages  on  account  of  that  stoppage. 

Art.  21.  At  the  place  where  excavations  are  to  be  made 
the  Government  will  keep  an  able  and  capable  official  ;  and 
the  travelling  expenses  and  the  salary  of  this  official,  after 
having  been  fixed  by  the  authorities,  will  be  collected  from 


APPENDIX  D.  307 

the  excavators  in  full  and  paid  to  him  monthly  by  the  Treas- 
urer of  Public  Instruction. 

If  the  excavations  are  finished  before  the  expiration  of  the 
permit  and  the  researches  abandoned,  the  surplus  of  the 
money  paid  for  the  salary  of  the  official  shall  be  returned  to 
the  excavator. 

Art.  22.  No  permit  of  excavation  shall  be  granted  to 
officials  of  the  Ottoman,  or  of  a  foreign.  Government  for  exca- 
vations to  be  made  within  the  district  of  their  official  post. 

Art.  23.  The  transfer  by  the  recipient  of  a  permit  of  ex- 
cavation is  forbidden. 

Art.  24.  A  person  cannot  have  permits  for  excavation  in 
more  than  one  place. 

Art.  25.  Those  who  by  accident  discover  antiquities  are 
bound,  if  at  Constantinople,  to  inform  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Instruction  within  five  days,  and  if  in  the  provinces,  to  inform 
the  local  authorities  within  ten  days. 

Art.  26.  At  the  expiration  of  the  permit  or  at  the  termina- 
tion of  the  excavations,  when  the  excavator  gives  notice  of  it, 
if  it  is  found  that  he  has  fulfilled  all  the  conditions  of  the 
regulations,  the  money  he  had  deposited  as  security  will  be 
returned  to  him  in  accordance  with  the  receipt. 

Art.  27.  The  amount  produced  by  seizures  of  antiquities, 
or,  on  condemnation,  from  sales  at  public  auction  in  accord- 
ance with  the  rule  by  an  official  auctioneer,  and  the  money 
accruing  from  divisions  with  the  owners  of  antiquities,  and 
also  fines,  and  fees  of  permits,  and  the  product  of  confisca- 
tions shall  belong  to  the  treasury  of  the  Museum. 

Art.  28.  The  imjiortation  from  abroad  of  any  kind  of 
antiquities  is  free  and  exempt  from  customs  duties,  and  all 
kinds  of  antiquities  which  are  to  be  transported  from  one  dis- 
trict to  another  within  the  Ottoman  dominions  are  exempt 
from  internal  duties. 

Art.  29.  Permission  for  the  re-exportation  of  antiquities 
introduced  from  abroad  into  the  Ottoman  dominions,  and  for 
the  transportation  from  one  district  of  the  Empire  to  another 
of  antiquities  found  within  the  Empire,  can  be  obtained  by 
drawing  up  a  list  of  said  antiquities  by  the  owner  and  shipper 


308  NIPPUR. 

and  transmitting  it  to  the  Director  of  the  Museum  through  the 
Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  ;  and  in  localities  where  there 
are  no  such  Boards  or  Commissions  to  the  local  authorities. 

The  owner  of  antiquities  introduced  into  the  Empire  from 
abroad  is  bound  within  eight  days  to  transmit  a  list  of  them, 
as  before  stated,  to  the  administration  of  the  Museum  through 
the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction,  and  in  the  provinces  to  the 
Board  or  Commission  of  Public  Instruction  ;  and  if  there  is 
no  such  Board  or  Commission  to  the  local  authorities. 

Art.  30.  In  any  case  the  re-exportation  of  antiquities  im- 
ported from  abroad,  and  the  transportation  from  one  district 
of  the  Empire  to  another  of  antiquities  found  within  the  Em- 
pire, is  necessarily  subject  to  an  official  authorization,  which 
can  be  procured  from  the  INIinistry  of  Public  Instruction,  with 
the  agreement  of  the  Director  of  the  Museum. 

Art.  31.  The  antiquities  exported  without  the  special 
permit  of  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  shall,  if  captured, 
be  seized  or  confiscated  in  the  name  of  the  Museum. 

Art.  32.  The  granting  of  the  official  permission  to  export 
antiquities  into  foreign  countries,  though  reserved  to  the 
Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  with  the  consent  of  the  Director 
of  the  Museum,  is  subject  to  the  following  conditions  : 

ist.  The  Museum  should  possess  already  a  duplicate  of  the 
kind. 

2d.  It  should  be  established  that  the  said  antiquities  have 
been  imported  from  a  foreign  country. 

Art.  33.  Those  who  appropriate  antiquities  found  on  the 
ground  or  exhumed,  on  private  or  Government  property,  will 
be  liable  in  accordance  with  Article  138  of  the  Penal  Code  to 
damages  and  a  fine,  and  to  imprisonment  from  one  month  to 
one  year. 

Art.  34.  If  those  who  have  accidently  discovered  some 
antiquities  do  not  give  notice  of  it,  they,  after  being  deprived 
of  the  share  to  which  they  had  a  right,  are  punished  with  a 
fine  equal  to  one  fourth  of  the  value  of  their  discovery  ;  and 
if  those  antiquities  are  out  of  reach,  besides  the  fine  they  will 
have  to  pay  their  total  value. 

Art.  35.     Those  who,  in  transportation  from  one  district  to 


APPEXDIX  D.  309 

another  of  antiquities  found  within  the  Empire,  violate  Article 
7^2,  will  be  subjected  to  a  fine  of  from  one  to  five  Turkish 
pounds. 

Art.  T^d.  The  lawsuits  which  may  originate  out  of  these 
regulations  shall  be  heard  in  the  ordinary  courts  of  law. 

Art.  37.  The  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  is  charged 
with  the  enforcement  of  the  present  regulations. 

The  23  of  Rebbi-ul-Akhir  1301,  and  9th  of  February,  1299  : 
(/.  e.  Feb.  21,  1884,  a.d.). 


APPENDIX  E. 

THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  EUPHRATES. 

GREEK  and  Roman  geographers  and  historians  differ 
materially  in  their  descriptions  of  the  Euphrates 
Valley  and  of  Babylonia.  The  earliest  account  of  the  Eu- 
phrates which  we  have  is  that  contained  in  Xenophon's  Ana- 
basis (400  B.C.).  He  journeyed  down  the  Euphrates  on  the 
Mesopotamian  side,  and  reports  no  cities  or  towns  between 
the  river  Khabor  and  the  Median  Wall,  excepting  the  half  de- 
serted Corsote.  But  across  the  river  during  these  desert  stages 
was  the  large  and  wealthy  town  of  Charmande.  This  was  the 
city  of  Anatho,  or  'Anah.  From  what  Xenophon  obtained  the 
Charm  in  his  Charmande,  I  do  not  know. 

About  the  beginning  of  our  era,  Isidorus  of  Charax  wrote 
his  'Sradj.ioi  UapOiHoI,  an  itinerary  of  the  route  from 
Antioch  to  Seleucia,  on  the  Tigris.  The  road  followed  by 
him  crosses  the  Euphrates  at  Birejik,  and  descends  the 
Belikh  to  the  Euphrates,  which  it  reaches  at  Nikephorium. 
From  Nikephorium  onward,  this  route  is  the  same  as  that  fol- 
lowed by  Xenophon.  The  first  station,  four  schoeni  beyond 
Nikephorium,  was  a  deserted  village,  Galabatha.  One 
schoenus  beyond  this  was  the  village  of  Chubana.  Four 
schoeni  beyond  this  were  Thillada  and  Mirrhada  ;  beyond 
which  were  a  palace,  a  shrine  of  Artemis,  a  building  of  Darius, 
a  walled  village,  and  a  canal  of  Semiramis.  The  Euphrates 
at  this  point  was  walled  in  with  stones,  and  at  certain  seasons 
it  inundated  the  fields,  but  in  summer,  when  the  water  is  low, 
owing  to  this  obstruction,  ships  were  wrecked  at  this  point. 
Manifestly  Thillada  and  Mirrhada  were  in  the  gorge  which  the 

310 


APPEXDIX  E.  311 

Euphrates  breaks  through  the  el-Hamme  range,  and  approxi- 
mately in  the  position  of  Halebieh  and  Zelebieh. 

Four  schoeni  beyond  these  was  a  walled  village  named 
Allan,  and  four  schoeni  beyond  this,  Biunau,  where  was  a 
shrine  of  Artemis.  Then  comes  Phaliga,  a  village  by  the 
Euphrates,  near  which  was  Nabagath,  a  walled  village  on  the 
Aboras.  Nabagath  was  situated  about  where  the  Roman 
fortress  Circesium  was  built  later,  and  Biunau  must  have  been 
nearly  opposite  Deir. 

Four  schoeni  beyond  Nabagath  was  the  village  of  Asicha, 
and  six  schoeni  beyond  that  was  Dura,  the  city  of  Nicanor, 
founded  by  the  Macedonians,  but  called  Europus  by  the 
Greeks.  This  must  have  been  almost  opposite  the  modern 
Mujawada. 

Five  schoeni  beyond  this  was  Castle  Mirrhan,  a  walled 
village.  This  castle  stood,  presumably,  about  on  the  site  of 
€l-Trsi.  Five  schoeni  beyond  this  was  a  city,  Giddan  ;  and 
seven  schoeni  beyond  that,  Belesibiblada.  Six  schoeni  beyond 
that  was  an  island  in  the  Euphrates,  where  Phraates,  "  who  cut 
the  throats  of  his  wives,  had  a  treasury,  which  Tiradates  the 
exile  seized."  Four  schoeni  beyond  this  was  the  island  of 
Anatho  in  the  Euphrates. 

The  schoeni  for  this  part  of  the  route  are  evidently  not  the 
same  as  the  schoeni  for  the  part  between  the  Belikh  and  the 
Khabor.  Like  the  parasang,  the  schoenus  is  an  approximate 
measure  by  time,  and  the  length  of  time  occupied  in  traversing 
a  mile  in  one  part  of  the  country  may  have  been  longer  than 
the  time  occupied  in  traversing  the  same  distance  in  another 
part.  But,  allowing  for  this  difference,  it  seems  impossible  to 
insert  all  the  places  mentioned  between  the  Khabor  and 
'Anah  ;  while  below  'Anah  the  number  of  stations  is  in- 
sufficient. 

The  next  station  below  'Anah,  twelve  schoeni  lower  down, 
is  the  island  of  Olabus,  "where  was  a  treasury  of  the  Par- 
thians,"  Twelve  schoeni  below  this  was  Uzzanesopolis  ;  and 
sixteen  schoeni  below  this,  Aeiojiolis,  "  where  are  bitumen 
springs."  Aeiopolis  is  evidently  Hit.  Now,  between  Hit  and 
'Anah  there  are  four  islands  in  the  river,  all  of  them,  apparently. 


312 


NIPPUR. 


ancient  sites, — namely,  Telbeis,  Haditha,  Alus,  and  Jibba. 
Isidore,  in  his  list  of  stations,  mentions  only  two  islands  be- 
tween 'Anah  and  Hit — Olabus  and  Izzanesopolis.  The  latter 
of  these  is  clearly  Alus  or  el-'Uzz  ;  and  the  former,  from  its 
name,  appears  to  be  Telbeis,  But  the  distances  given  by  him 
are  not  correct  for  these  two  places,  nor,  indeed,  for  any  of  the 
island  towns  now  existing.  As  there  were  too  many  places 
between  the  Khabor  and  'Anah,  so  there  are  too  few  places 
between  'Anah  and  Hit.  I  am  almost  inclined  to  suppose 
that  the  island  with  the  treasury  of  Phraates  mentioned  before 
'Anah,  belongs  after  'Anah,  and  that  it  is  the  island  of  Haditha, 
the  next  station  after  Aeiopolis, 

Twelve  schoeni  below  Hit  was  Besechana,  in  which  was  a 
shrine  of  the  goddess  Atargate.  Twenty-two  schoeni  below 
Besechana  was  Neapolis  on  the  Euphrates.  From  there  to 
Seleucia  on  the  Tigris,  by  the  Nahr  Malcha,  was  nine  schoeni. 
Neapolis  was  Nearda,  or,  at  least,  was  situated  in  the  same 
general  position  as  Nearda.  Besechana  would  have  been 
approximately  opposite  Ramadieh,  but  the  length  of  the  stages 
given  is  excessive,  especially  the  twenty-two  schoeni  from 
Besechana  to  Neapolis. 

These  Parthian  stations  of  Isidore's  give,  not  all  the  towns 
on  the  route  but,  the  stations  on  the  road  of  the  traveller. 
Comparing  Isidore's  stations  with  Xenophon's  Anabasis,  it 
will  be  seen  that  there  is  little  in  common  between  the  two. 

About  half  a  century  later  than  Isidore,  Pliny  Avrote  his 
Natural  History.  In  the  fifth  and  sixth  books  of  this  work  he 
gives  some  account  of  the  Euphrates.  According  to  him, 
the  main  stream  of  the  Euphrates  flowed  through  the  Nahr 
Malcha  to  the  Tigris,  a  smaller  stream  going  southward  through 
Babylonia  to  lose  itself  in  the  swamps.  The  point  of  division 
was  near  a  place  called  Massice.  But  earlier  there  had  stood 
at  the  point  where  the  Nahr  Malcha  and  the  Euphrates 
divided  a  very  large  city,  named  Agranes,  which  the  Persians 
destroyed,  Pliny  says  further  that  the  Persians  destroyed 
Hipparenum,  that  is,  Sippara,  which,  like  Babylon,  was 
rendered  famous  by  the  learning  of  the  Chaldeans,  and  was 
situated  near  the  river  Narraga.     In  the  same  district,  toward 


APPENDIX  E.  313 

the  south,  was  Orchemus,  that  is,  Erech,  a  third  place  of  learn- 
ing of  the  Chaldees,  which  was  also  destroyed  by  the  Persians. 
He  states  that  in  his  day  Thapsacus  was  called  Amphipolis. 
The  only  information  which  he  gives  in  addition  to  this  is 
that  at  no  great  distance  from  Sura  on  the  Euphrates  was 
Philiscum,  a  town  of  the  Parthians. 

Strabo,  writing  about  the  same  time,  gives  us  absolutely 
nothing  tangible  about  the  Euphrates. 

Ptolemy's  geography  was  written  a  century  later.  I  have 
stated  that  it  is  of  little  value  for  the  identification  of  locali- 
ties. In  some  cases  it  is  difficult  to  conjecture  where  or  how 
he  obtained  his  information.  Xikephorium  he  places  on  the 
Euphrates  above  the  bend  of  the  river  by  Barbalissus.  Kha- 
bora  is  located  inland  from  the  Euphrates,  and  both  the  rivers 
Khabor  and  Belikh  are  omitted  altogether.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  river,  Saokoras,  is  represented  as  emptying  into  the 
Euphrates  a  little  above  the  town  of  Hit  (Idikara).  It  is  pos- 
sible that  this  may  be  the  Tharthar,  which  is  reported  (where, 
I  do  not  know)  as  flowing  from  ancient  Hadr  to  the  Euphrates. 
Xenophon  represents  a  river,  Maska,  as  emptying  into  the 
Euphrates  apparently  near  'Irsi,  that  is,  much  higher  up. 

The  towns  mentioned  by  Ptolemy,  like  the  stations  of  Isi- 
dore, are  for  the  most  part  stations  of  travellers,  having  no 
more  permanent  a  character  than  the  stations  in  use  at  present. 
The  names,  therefore,  are  of  little  assistance  ;  and  the  few 
which  can  be  identified  are  strangely  turned  about  and  trans- 
posed from  their  proper  positions,  so  that  we  cannot  rely  on 
Ptolemy's  map  for  the  identification  of  places  not  hitherto 
known. 

Arrian,  at  an  earlier  date,  tells  of  the  Pallakopas  Canal, 
which,  from  his  description,  was  in  about  the  same  position 
as,  or  identical  with,  the  modern  Hindieh  Canal.  Ptolemy 
represents  the  Euphrates  as  having  a  channel  running  directly 
to  the  Persian  Gulf  from  a  point  considerably  above  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Nahr  Malcha.  This  is  evidently 
a  reminiscence,  at  least,  of  the  Saadeh  Canal,  constructed  by 
Nebuchadrezzar,  and  which  we  found  leaving  the  Euphrates 
at  a  point  slightly  below  Hit.     Ptolemy,  however,  represents  it 


314  NIPPUR. 

as  branching  off  above  Hit.  That  he  is  confused  with  regard 
to  the  position  of  Hit  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  locates 
that  town  in  two  different  places.  Like  Pliny,  he  represents 
what  is  now  the  main  channel  of  the  Euphrates  as  a  stream  of 
comparative  insignificance.  The  main  portion  of  the  Euphra- 
tes, according  to  him,  flows  across  to  the  Tigris  through  the 
Nahr  Malcha.  At  the  point  where  this  leaves  the  Euphrates, 
on  the  east  side  of  the  stream,  he  locates  the  city  of  Nearda, 
a  location  which  accords  in  general  with  the  information  ob- 
tained from  other  sources.  Farther  down  on  the  same  stream 
was  Sippara,  the  modern  Abu  Habba.  Above  Nearda,  on  the 
same  side  of  the  Euphrates,  were  Pacoria  and  Teridata. 
AVhat  is  now  the  main  channel  of  the  Euphrates,  Ptolemy  calls 
the  River  of  Babylon,  and  describes  it  as  flowing  through  Bab- 
ylon. Below  Babylon  it  is  joined  by  another  stream,  the  Mar- 
sares, which  seems  to  be  the  Nahr  Sar.  These  two  streams  united 
lose  themselves  in  the  swamps  near  Orchoe,  that  is,  Erech. 

Ammianus  Marcellinus,  in  his  account  of  Julian's  ill-fated 
expedition  against  the  Persians  (363  a.d.),  of  which  he  was  an 
eye-witness,  gives  us  some  information  of  a  later  date,  part  of 
which  I  have  used  in  my  text.  One  day's  journey  below  Cir- 
cesium  stood,  according  to  his  account,  Zaitha  and  the  tumulus 
of  Gordian.  A  day's  journey  beyond,  also  on  the  Mesopota- 
mian  side  of  the  Euphrates,  was  the  deserted  town  of  Dura. 
Four  days'  journey  beyond  that  was  'Anah.  Near  'Anah,  situ- 
ated in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  was  the  island  of  Thilutha, 
which  is  Telbeis.  Next,  they  came  to  Achaiachala,  fortified 
by  the  flowing  about  it  of  the  stream.  Next  beyond  this  was 
Parax  Malcha,  and  going  on  from  there  they  came  to  the  bitu- 
men city  of  Diacira,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  Achaia- 
chala and  Parax  Malcha  represent  two  of  the  three  island 
towns, — Haditha,  Alus,  and  Jibba, — presumably  the  first  and 
the  last.  Diacira  is  identified  by  the  designation  of  "  the 
bitumen  city  "  as  Hit.  Next  beyond  Diacira,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  they  came  to  Macepracta  by  a  ruined  wall, 
the  Median  Wall.  About  this  point  the  river  divided,  part 
flowing  down  into  the  interior  of  Babylonia,  and  part  flowing 
through  the  Nahr  Malcha  to  the  Tigris  by  Ctesiphon. 


APPENDIX  E.  315 

It  is  evident  from  this  description  that  Macepracta  was 
somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  modern  Sakhlawieh. 
Just  about  or  below  this  point  was  Perisabora,  that  is,  'Anbar, 
which  was  almost  surrounded  by  the  river,  as  by  a  wall,  so 
that  its  position  was  semi-insular.  A  little  beyond  this,  fol- 
lowing the  general  course  of  the  Nahr  Malcha,  toward  Ctesi- 
phon,  Julian  came  to  a  small  city  inhabited  exclusively  by 
Jews  ;  and  still  beyond  this  to  the  large  and  strong  city  of 
Maoga  Malcha. 

A  comparison  of  these  geographical  notices  will  show,  as  I 
stated  at  the  outset,  a  curious  lack  of  agreement  in  the  names 
of  cities  and  towns  along  the  river.  A  similar  lack  of  agree- 
ment appears  in  the  accounts  of  modern  travellers  separated 
from  one  another  by  a  half-century  or  so.  I  found,  for  in- 
stance, that  many  of  the  places  given  on  Chesney's  map  had 
disappeared  completely,  or  had  changed  their  names.  There 
are  a  few  towns,  like  'Anah  and  Hit,  which  constitute  perma- 
nent landmarks,  and  we  are  compelled  to  study  the  records  of 
the  old  geographers  from  these  as  a  basis.  The  majority  of 
the  names  given  by  them  are  the  names  of  insignificant  towns 
of  a  temporary  character, — mere  stages  on  the  itineraries, 
which  have  always  changed  place  and  name  frequently.  One 
fact,  however,  in  wliich  all  of  these  geographical  notices  agree, 
is  the  division  of  the  Euphrates  into  two  channels,  one  flow- 
ing southward  through  Babylonia,  and  one  flowing  into  the 
Tigris  through  the  Nahr  Malcha,  which  left  the  Euphrates 
somewhere  near  the  site  of  'Anbar. 

I  may  call  attention  further  to  the  maps  of  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates  contained  in  the  Liber  Clttnatum  of  Abu  Ishak, 
toward  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  a.d.  In  these  he  rep- 
resents the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris  as  joined  together  by 
the  Nahr  Isa,  which  is  the  modern  Sakhlawieh  Canal.  Just 
below  this  another  canal,  the  Nahr  Sarsar,  leaves  the  Eu- 
phrates, running  toward  the  Tigris,  wliich  it  does  not  quite 
reach.  A  little  below  this  is  the  similar  Nahr  Malcha  ;  and 
on  one  of  the  maps  still  a  fourth  canal  is  represented,  the 
Nahr  Sura.  The  English  surveys  of  Selby,  Bewsher,  and 
Collingwood  show  a  number  of  canals  starting  out  from  the 


3l6  NIPPUR. 

Euphrates  within  a  short  distance  of  one  another,  not  far  from 
'Anbar,  which  is  substantially  the  same  condition  represented 
on  Abu  Ishak's  map,  excepting  only  that  in  his  day  these 
canals  seem  to  have  contained  more  water  than  at  present. 
But  between  the  time  of  Pliny  and  the  time  of  Abu  Ishak  the 
channel  of  communication  between  the  two  streams  seems  to 
have  been  transferred  from  the  Xahr  Malcha  to  the  Nahr  Isa. 

In  the  text  accompanying  his  maps  Abu  Ishak  says  that  the 
Isa  Canal  leaves  the  Euphrates  near  'Anbar  and  empties  into 
the  Tigris  within  the  limits  of  the  city  of  Baghdad.  The  next 
canal  below  this,  also  navigable,  was  the  Sarsar,  on  which  was 
the  town  of  the  same  name,  three  parasangs  from  Baghdad. 
Two  parasangs  below  this  was  a  large  canal,  called  Nahr-el- 
]Malk,  on  which  was  a  city  of  the  same  name,  the  Maoga 
Malcha  of  Ammianus.  Beyond  this,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Euphrates,  and  opposite  Kerbela,  was  Kasr-ibn-Kubeire, 
the  most  important  city  between  Busrah  and  Baghdad.  The 
next  canal,  and  the  largest  of  all,  was  the  Xahr  Sura,  on  which 
was  the  city  of  the  same  name. 

Josef  Cernik,  in  his  Stiidien  Expedition,  1872-73,  gives  us 
the  best  map  in  existence  of  the  terrain  of  the  Arabic  bank  of 
the  Euphrates,  but  adds  nothing  to  our  knowledge  of  sites. 
He  heard  for  el-"lrsi  the  name  el-Baus,  and  describes  it  as  the 
*'  Balessi  of  the  Bible,"  whatever  that  may  mean.  For  the 
Sakhlawieh  Canal  he  heard  the  name  Feluja  Canal,  and  by 
the  side  of  this  he  found  in  existence  the  Wadi  Isa.  Cernik 
heard  of  old  wells  and  stations  on  the  direct  line  from  Sala- 
hieh  on  the  Euphrates  to  Sukhne  near  Palmyra. 

I  have  mentioned  the  island  city  of  Alus,  or  el-'Uzz,  as 
named  after  an  Arab  goddess.  That  goddess  was  properly 
el-'Uzza,  or  simply  Uzza,  known  also  as  the  "  Morning  Star," 
and  the  "  Queen  of  Heaven."  She  was  the  great  goddess  of 
the  Arabs  from  a  time  after  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
era  until  the  time  of  Mohammed.  She  was  worshipped  at  her 
great  yearly  festivals  with  human  sacrifices.  At  one  of  her 
shrines  was  a  grove  of  trees,  which  constituted  the  temple, 
and  in  one  of  these  dwelt  the  goddess.  There  was  also  a 
sacred  stone  in   connection   with    this    sanctuary.      She   was 


APPENDIX  E.  317 

identified  by  foreign  writers  with  Beltis,  Venus  or  Aphrodite. 
On  conversion  to  Christianity  her  cult  tended  to  go  over  into 
that  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  vice  versa.  Manifestly  a  shrine 
of  this  goddess  existed  at  Alus,  or  el-'Uzz.  The  worship  of 
this  goddess  among  the  Arabs  followed  and  superseded  that  of 
Allat  and  Manat  after  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  It 
is  not  probable,  therefore,  that  the  name  Alus  or  el-'Uzz  is 
very  ancient,  but,  as  I  have  already  shown,  it  was  known  to 
Isidore  of  Charax  at  the  beginning  of  our  era,  for  he  calls  the 
town  Izzanesopolis,  or  Uzzanesopolis,  which  being  translated 
means  "  city  of  Uzza,"  and  a  little  later  in  the  same  century 
Ptolemy  calls  it  Auzara,  which  is  a  corruption  of  'Uzza. 


APPENDIX  F. 

A  PORTION  OF  THE  DIARY  OF  WILLIAM  HAYES  WARD, 
DIRECTOR  OF  THE  WOLFE  EXPEDITION  TO  BABY- 
LONIA (1884-85),  INCLUDING  SELECTIONS  AND  TOP- 
OGRAPHICAL DATA  FROM  THAT  PART  OF  THE 
DIARY  WHICH  COVERS  THE  TIME  SPENT  IN  BABY- 
LONIA. 

MONDAY,  January  12,  1885,  Leaving  Baghdad  about 
10.30,  we  went  over  the  bridge  and  through  a  level 
country,  by  old  canals,  till  we  came  in  six  hours  to 
Khan  Madmudieh.  This  is  the  finest  khan  we  have  seen.  It  is 
said  to  be  the  pious  work  of  one  man,  and  is  free  to  any  traveller. 
The  outside  is  an  immense  square  blank  wall,  entered  by  a  cov- 
ered doorway  in  the  middle  of  one  side,  which  leads  across  an  in- 
terior passage-way  into  the  middle  court,  where  the  animals  are 
gathered.  On  each  side  of  the  interior  passage-way  are  cham- 
bers, open  the  full  width,  and  raised  three  feet  from  the  ground, 
which  can  be  shut  off  by  curtains  if  there  are  any  women  in 
the  pilgrim  party.  The  passage-way  is  filled  with  horses  and 
camels  or  donkeys.  About  the  inner  open  court  are  similar 
open  chambers.  There  is  a  great  crowd  of  pilgrims  from 
India  or  Persia  who  carry  with  them  dead  bodies,  swathed  in 
cloth,  to  be  buried  in  the  sacred  soil  of  Kerbela.  The  sick  are 
also  carried  to  die  there.  The  sick,  as  well  as  the  women,  are 
carried  in  baskets  swung  either  side  of  a  camel  or  mule.  As  we 
came  in,  there  were  scores  of  camels  outside  of  the  khan,  and 

Dr.  Ward's  party  consisted  of  Dr.  J.  R.  S.  Sterrett,  now  Professor  of 
Greek  in  Amherst,  and  Messrs.  J.  H.  Haynes  and  D.  Z.  Noorian.  Dr. 
Sterrett  fell  ill  on  the  way  to  Baghdad  and  did  not  accompany  Dr.  Ward  on 
his  trip  southward  from  that  place.  Among  the  servants  of  the  Wolfe  Ex- 
pedition were  Mustafa  and  Artin,  who  afterward  accompanied  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  Expedition. 


APPEXDIX  F.  319 

the  owners  were  feeding  them.  They  were  made  to  come  up 
in  squads  and  kneel  before  the  driver,  who  had  by  him  lumps. 
of  wet  meal  as  big  as  his  two  fists.  He  would  give  eight  or  ten 
to  each  camel.  They  are  thus  fed  every  one  or  two  days,  and 
depend  on  what  they  can  forage  for  the  rest  of  their  suste- 
nance. They  were  very  eager,  and  had  to  be  cuffed  about  to 
make  them  keep  their  turns. 

Tuesday,  January  13th.  The  khanjee  offered  to  be  our 
guide,  and  we  Avent  with  him  to  Abu  Habba.  We  had  a  let- 
ter from  Daoud  Thoma  to  Sheikh  Abdullah,  and  saw  him  and 
also  Daoud's  brother,  Abd-ul-Ahad  ("  servant  of  Sunday,"  the 
day  on  which  he  was  born).  It  appears  to  be  the  duty  of 
Abd-ul-Ahad  to  protect  the  ground  against  depredations  by 
others.  It  is  said  that  a  part  of  the  property  about  Abu 
Habba  has  passed  into  the  private  possession  of  the  Sultan, 
and  it  seemed  to  be  the  idea  of  the  people  that  he  was  provid- 
ing against  the  time  when  he  might  be  compelled  to  move  his 
capital  from  Constantinople  to  Baghdad.  On  our  way  to  Abu 
Habba  we  visited  Abu  Shema  ("  father  of  wax  "),  where  some 
exploring  has  been  done  by  Daoud.  It  is  a  small,  unimportant 
ruin.  There  is  at  Abu  Habba  a  large  encircling  wall  which 
we  did  not  have  time  to  explore,  and  other  walls  dividing  the 
city  into  quarters.  The  principal  ruins  seem  to  be  in  one  of 
these  quarters,  the  others  being  empty.  There  is  a  perfect 
network  of  excavations,  and  scores  of  ruins,  large  and  small. 
There  is  scarcely  any  sign  of  stone,  but  plenty  of  burnt  and 
unburnt  brick.  The  highest  elevation  is  low,  and  a  shaft  has 
been  put  through  it,  finding  nothing.  The  deepest  excavation 
is  near  it,  by  a  square  tower,  but  nothing  was  found  there. 
Abdullah  and  Abd-ul-Ahad  showed  us  all  about  and  pointed 
out  where  the  stone  was  found  with  the  figure  on  it  of  the  sun- 
god  of  Sippara.  They  called  it  the  stone  with  Noah  and  his 
three  sons  on  it,  and  we  were  told  how  Rassam  killed  an  ox  in 
honor  of  the  discovery.  They  also  showed  us  where  barrels 
and  tablets  were  found.  One  is  struck  by  the  absence  of 
stone.  There  is  little  anywhere  excepting  pieces  a  foot  square, 
used  as  sockets  for  doors,  or  for  the  fastening  of  bolts  between 
folding-doors,  perhaps.     The  guardians  of  the  place  protest 


320 


NIPPUR. 


that  absolutely  no  digging  has  been  done  there  since  Daoud 
dug  for  Rassam. 

Wednesday,  January  14th.  Travelled  to  Khan  Mahawil. 
Noticed  on  the  way  several  round  boats  or  coracles  that  had 
been  left  stranded  at  the  last  overflow  of  the  river,  during 
which  period,  for  several  weeks,  we  were  told,  men  went  to 
Mahmudieh  by  boat. 

Thursday,  January  15th.  Soon  after  crossing  the  bridge  over 
the  Mahawil  Canal,  we  came  to  a  small  mound  with  pottery 
and  black  stone,  and  a  square  door  socket.  We  found  that 
Tel-el-Kreni  had  been  pretty  thoroughly  explored  by  Rassam. 
I  saw  plenty  of  diggings  and  pottery,  and  some  inscribed 
bricks,  the  writing  nearly  effaced.  Tel  Kreni  lies  just  to  the 
right  of  the  telegraph  and  the  road.  It  is  about  three  hundred 
feet  long,  and  shows  tufa,  bones,  and  a  little  masonry. 

Babil  appeared  in  the  distance,  and  as  we  came  opposite  to 
it  we  sent  the  animals  ahead  to  Jimjimeh,  while  we  rode  along 
the  canal  to  Babil.  The  height  disappointed  me,  but  it  has 
been  sadly  broken  up  by  digging.  Anyone  can  dig  there 
freely,  and  so  it  seems  to  be  all  the  way  to  Jimjimeh,  and  sev- 
eral parties  were  busy  getting  out  brick  for  the  Hillah  market. 
The  men  carry  the  dirt  out  in  baskets,  and  the  donkeys  carry 
the  brick  to  the  bank  of  the  river,  where  the  coracles  take 
them  to  Hillah.  We  went  over  the  hill,  which  is  perfectly 
gutted  with  diggings.  I  was  told  at  Jimjimeh  that  nothing  is 
found  there  ;  but  in  Baghdad  I  was  told  that  two  small  Nebu- 
chadrezzar barrels  which  I  bought  there  came  from  Babil, 
The  Arabs  stopped  digging  and  showed  us  about,  but  we  saw 
nothing  except  the  holes  which  they  were  digging.  It  was  im- 
possible to  discover  the  details  of  any  buildings.  They  keep 
filling  up  after  them.  An  Arab  offered  to  show  us  a  big  stone 
lion  "  near  by,"  We  passed  bullocks  lifting  water  into  canals 
to  irrigate  palm-trees,  by  means  of  a  bucket  made  of  bullock's 
hide,  the  Egyptian  Shaduf,  This  method  is  generally  in  use 
where  the  current  of  the  river  is  not  strong  enough  to  carry 
the  great  water-wheel  which  is  in  use  farther  up  the  Euphrates, 
The  lion  was  found  after  a  long  ride.  It  lies  in  a  deep  hole 
dug  long  ago,  and  seems  to  have  been  rudely  cut. 


APPENDIX  F.  321 

We  then  rode  hastily  past  hills  and  diggings  to  Jimjimeh, 
where  we  had  letters  from  Daoud  Thoma  to  Sheikh  Tamer 
and  his  son  Obeid.  We  were  kindly  received,  for  they  had 
heard  that  we  were  coming,  and  impressively  informed  that 
Mr.  Rassam  occupied  the  room  where  we  were  entertained. 
The  old  Sheikh  was  dignified  and  courteous,  and  called  on  us 
in  the  evening,  and  we  returned  his  call. 

Friday,  January  i6th.  We  left  the  gate  of  Jimjimeli  at  9.44 
with  Obeid  as  guide,  and  started  for  the  wall,  es-Sur.  The 
Avail  was  not  evident  at  first,  remains  being  visible  at  but  one 
spot  for  about  half  the  length  of  the  southern  side.  Then  it 
became  ten  or  fifteen  feet  high  and  liroken  by  several  gates. 
The  rest  had  been  entirely  removed  by  the  plow.  We  turned 
the  corner  and  rode  towards  Babil.  About  every  sixty  seconds 
there  appeared  a  minor  gate,  and  about  the  middle  a  larger 
one.  Once  or  twice  canals  have  been  cut  through  the  wall. 
In  the  wall  we  saw  fragments  of  coffins  of  blue  glazed  ware 
and  bones,  presumably  late  Parthian  burials.  At  the  south- 
east corner  the  road  crosses  the  canal,  and  near  Bal)il  dis- 
appears in  the  canal.  Here  the  rain  interfered  with  our 
pictures  and  observations.  We  rode  to  Hillah  by  way  of  Tel 
Ahmera,  jNIujellibeh,  Amram,  and  Jimjimeh,  and  found  that 
rooms  had  been  engaged  for  us  at  the  khan.  Ours  was  a  fine 
room  with  dirt  floor,  plastered  walls,  two  shelves,  and  two 
nails.  We  noticed  that  another  room,  which  was  held  by  a 
merchant  abroad  on  a  journey,  was  sealed  up  with  pats  of  clay 
covering  the  cracks  between  the  door  and  its  casing,  and  on 
the  lock,  each  pat  of  clay  being  marked  with  the  owner's  seal 
protecting  his  property  stored  within. 

Saturday,  January  17th.  We  took  a  zaptieh  and  horses  and 
went  to  Birs  Nimrud.  We  left  the  palms  of  Hillali  and  struck 
a  bare  country,  much  of  it  overflowed  ;  and  had  to  make  a 
detour  to  tlie  left  to  avoid  the  Hindieh  River.  On  reaching 
Ibrahim  Khali),  the  companion  mound  to  Birs  Nimrud,  we 
found  some  ragged  Arabs  at  the  holy  place,  and  after  a  while 
the  man  to  whom  we  had  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Daoud 
Thoma  made  his  appearance, — a  decent,  intelligent  man,  who 
had  been  in  charge  of  a  gang  of  sixty  or  seventy  workmen 


322  NIPPUR. 

when  Daoud  was  excavating  for  Mr.  Rassam.  He  showed  us 
around,  and  said  that  no  excavations  had  been  made  since 
then,  and  we  saw  no  signs  of  any,  merely  a  possible  grave  or 
two  having  been  dug  open.  From  the  top  of  Birs  we  could 
see  just  below  us  the  excavations  of  the  building.  Along  the 
chambers  about  the  central  court  every  seventh  layer  of  brick 
is  laid  on  a  pure  white  fibrous  matter,  apparently  ashes  of  reeds. 
The  tower  of  Birs  astonished  us  with  the  immense  broken 
masses  of  brick  molten  together,  tumbled  about  the  tower, 
and  unaffected  by  the  weather.  The  tower  hill  of  Birs  seems 
to  have  been  pretty  thoroughly  explored,  but  Ibrahim  Khalil 
has  been  very  imperfectly  worked.  I  was  told  at  Birs  that  the 
French  dug  four  tunnels  into  the  hill  toward  the  foot  of  the 
tower,  and  found  the  bottom  of  it  in  two  of  them.  I  went 
into  the  tunnels  a  distance  of  about  sixty  feet,  and  found 
bricks  at  two  places.  It  was  clear  that  the  French  had  worked 
for  architectural  construction,  the  English  for  tablets.  It 
would  seem  as  if  in  Mr.  Rassam's  digging  there  was  no  more 
care  for  architectural  details  than  in  the  diggings  of  the 
Arabs. 

Wednesday,  January  21st.  Left  Hillah  at  10.55.  Our 
course  was  about  30°.  At  12.13  we  crossed  a  canal  called 
Wardieh,  and  passed  Ibn-el-Hasr  half  a  mile  to  the  left, 
having  about  thirty  palm-trees  and  a  tomb.  We  were  in  a 
network  of  canals.  At  1.24  we  saw  a  large  encampment  to 
the  left,  also  Abu  Seid,  a  long,  low  mound  a  mile  or  more 
away.  At  1.41  we  crossed  a  very  large  old  canal  embank- 
ment, and  at  1.48  another  old  canal.  At  1.52  we  reached 
the  encampment  of  el-Seid,  where  our  party  stopped  with 
Sheikh  Hawer.  At  2.23,  leaving  our  caravan,  Haynes,  Noo- 
rian,  and  I  started  with  two  guides  for  Tel  Ohemir  ;  at  2.35 
crossed  an  old  canal  ;  at  2.41  reached  Tel-el-Huzreh,  or 
Shan-el-Huzrieh  ("  glory  of  the  treasures "),  a  low  mound 
covered  with  ordinary  broken  pottery,  black  stone,  green  and 
blue  glaze,  glass,  bricks,  and  slag.     Daoud  had  dug  a  little 

Bearings  from  Tel-e!-Huzra  :  Za'ru  Seis,  249°  ;  el-Ohemir,  96"  ;  Ben- 
der, 107. 


APPENDIX  F.  323 

way  into  the  mound,  but  found  nothing.  Here  we  stopped 
ten  minutes  and  then  went  to  Ohemir. 

Close  by  Ohemir  is  Tel  Hudhr.  Behind  it  is  Tel  Bender, 
very  little  excavated  by  Mr.  Rassam,  and  to  the  right  En- 
'Urrah.  Daoud  dug  here  with  twenty  men  for  a  year,  but, 
they  say,  found  nothing.  Ohemir  is  a  reddish  hill,  with  many 
low  elevations  to  the  west  and  north.  On  our  way  to  En- 
'Urrah  we  passed  what  was  said  to  be  an  affluent  of  the  Shatt- 
en-Nil.  The  top  of  El-Hudhr  is  irregular,  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  paces  long,  running  north  and  south,  with  apparently 
a  small  ziggurat  at  the  south  end.  I  had  no  time  to  go  to 
el-Bender.  We  returned  to  Abu  Seid  and  were  for  the  first 
time  entertained  in  a  tent.  The  men  were  anxious  for  back- 
sheesh, and  not  very  amiable,  but  they  finally  thawed  out  and 
we  engaged  a  guide  to  Shameli  and  Niffer. 

Thursday,  January  22d.  We  left  Seid  at  8.26.  Three  men 
had  watched  our  baggage  all  night,  and  wanted  to  take  care 
of  our  pistols,  but  were  told  that  we  could  not  sleep  without 
them.  At  12.00  our  course  was  140°  to  Ziaret  On.  We  were 
in  a  region  of  drifting  sand,  like  great  snow-drifts  everywhere 
about  the  tamarisk  bushes.  At  1.56  a  line  of  palm-trees, 
hardly  a  mile  off,  appeared  to  the  right,  and  telegraph  poles. 
At  2.05  we  reached  old  canal  and  telegraph,  and  at  2.15  the 
Euphrates,  much  to  my  disgust,  at  el-'Allak.  An  hour  or  so 
later  we  stopped  for  the  night  at  the  village  of  Hegan,  a  con- 
siderable village  of  mud  houses,  where  the  Kaimakam  kindly 
provided  for  us  at  the  guard  house,  with  two  large  palm-stem 
divans  for  the  men. 

Friday,  January  23d.  We  left  Hegan  at  8.05.  At  8.21  we 
crossed  the  telegraph  line.  At  9.55  crossed  Nahr  Shemeli,  a 
deep  canal  put  in  repair.     At   10.15   reached  a  few  tents,  5 

Bearings  from  Ohemir:  Seid,  258°  30'  ;  en-'Urrah,  128°  ;  Zibbah,  116°; 
el-Bender,  107°  ;  Abu  Hatab,  100°,  with  a  long,  low  line,  and  two  slight 
elevations  just  visible. 

Bearings  from  en-'Urrah  :  Ohemir,  30°  ;  Bender,  32°  ;  Zibbah,  97°  ; 
Abu  Hatab,  93°  ;  Ibrahim,  1°. 

Bearings  from  On  :  Tel  Ohemir  327°,  just  visible  ;  Ziaret  Resht,  32°,  a 
mile  or  two  off ;  Ziaret  al-Dhahara,  by  palm-trees,  161°. 


324  NIPPUR. 

minutes  southwest  of  Kal'at  Shemeli,  where  we  stopped 
twenty  minutes.  At  1.05  we  passed  to  the  right  of  the  large 
deserted  town  of  Horiya,  with  its  mud  walls.  At  2.30  reached 
the  quite  large  village  of  el-Seid  Ibn  Kerbul,  or  Kal  'at  Ibn 
Kerbul.  Here  we  were  hospitably  taken  into  his  tent  by  the 
Sheikh,  and  coffee  was  made  for  us  by  a  negro,  in  a  series 
of  seven  copper  coffeepots,  arranged  in  a  row  according  to 
their  size.  The  process  of  pouring  the  coffee  from  one  pot  to 
another  was  extremely  impressive.  Ibn  Kerbul  is  near  the 
swamp  Khor-el-Lisan,  where  are  said  to  be  lions.  The  Sheikh 
was  not  there,  but  his  brother  was  in  charge,  a  young  man 
named  Nahab.  We  were  abundantly  supplied  with  meat  and 
rice.  Sheikh  Ibn  Kerbul,  Sheikh  Hommar,  and  Sheikh  Seid 
belong  to  the  Zobeid  tribe. 

Saturday,  January  24th.  The  caravan  went  directly  to 
Niffer,  accompanied  by  Ibn  Kerbul,  Sheikh  Seid,  and  Sheikh 
Nahab,  while  Haynes,  Noorian,  and  I  started  for  Ziblieh,  ac- 
companied by  an  Arab  guide,  and  our  soldier,  Abbas.  Ziblieh, 
Avith  its  conspicuous  high  point,  lay  in  the  direction  of  about 
43°,  as  the  angle  was  taken  on  horseback.  At  9.40  we  came 
across  considerable  pottery,  and  five  minutes  later  a  fragment 
of  brick  with  an  archaic  inscription  in  four  or  five  lines.  On 
the  way  we  passed  a  long  wall  of  drifted  sand  about  ten  feet 
high.  We  reached  Ziblieh  about  11.30,  and  remained  there 
two  hours.  We  had  been  told  that  it  was  dangerous  to  go 
there  during  the  feud  between  the  tribes,  and  at  first  we  had 
been  refused  a  guide.  We  found  the  tower  of  Ziblieh  made 
of  unburnt  bricks,  with  layers  of  reeds  still  well  preserved. 
There  were  several  burnt  bricks  and  masses  of  mortar,  but  no 
inscriptions.  The  whole  hill  was  seamed  by  rain  and  there 
was  no  sign  of  any  digging.  We  noticed  certain  curious  ce- 
ment slabs,  perhaps  for  graves,  although  one  seemed  to  be  in 
situ  on  the  bricks.  An  arch  runs  through  the  hill,  a  third  of 
the  way  from  the  top,  about  six  feet  wide  at  the  bottom,  and 

Bearings  from  Ziblieh  :  Niffer,  147"  30'  ;  Estel,  99°  30',  a  very  slight 
elevation  ;  el-Hawal  (4  low  hills  not  half  an  hour  off),  two  of  them  51°, 
another  30°,  another  27'  30  ;  Tel  Lasa,  304°  30',  long  and  low  ;  Ibn  Ker- 
bul, 223   ?  Kal  'at  Ibn  Mohammed,  214°. 


APPENDIX  F.  325 

having  the  shape  of  a  low  segment  of  a  circle.  It  makes  an 
angle  of  about  25°.  I  saw  also  a  part  of  a  circular  ornament  of 
cement.  There  are  low  elevations  about  and  the  usual  amount 
of  pottery.  We  saw  no  evidence  of  very  ancient  construction. 
There  is  no  water  in  the  neighborhood,  but  some  grass. 

I  set  out  for  el-Hawal,  but  the  guide  objected,  and  I  went 
alone.  The  rest  started  southward  for  Niffer,  but  Haynes 
soon  followed  me,  overtaking  me  just  as  I  had  reached  the 
top  of  the  mound,  which  was  of  no  interest,  to  tell  me  that 
there  were  mysterious  horsemen  about,  disappearing  behind 
the  sand  hills.  We  hastened  to  overtake  the  remainder  of  our 
party,  without  stopping  to  take  bearings.  We  galloped  and 
overtook  them  in  half  an  hour,  the  horsemen  following  us. 
Some  men  began  to  ap]}ear,  signalling  on  a  ridge  in  front  for 
others  to  gather  to  meet  us.  They  were  armed  with  long  flint- 
lock guns,  their  signal  being  made  with  a  sort  of  banner,  a  red 
kerchief  on  a  spear.  We  went  forward  to  meet  them,  as  it  was 
impossible  to  avoid  them,  and  found  them  Affech  Arabs,  fifteen 
in  number,  who  had  gathered  from  their  flocks,  seeing  us  come 
from  a  hostile  territory,  and  fearing  that  we  were  enemies,  of 
the  el-Baij  tribe.  As  we  approached,  they  first  concealed 
themselves  behind  bushes  and  thorns,  and  were  ready  to  shoot 
from  a  safe  place.  Noorian  and  tlie  guide  went  ahead,  and 
our  zaptieh  in  the  rear.  The  guide  waved  his  meshlah  and 
made  signs  that  we  were  friends.  They  were  as  ready  for 
peace  as  we  were,  and  began  to  marcli  and  sing,  as  well  as  we 
could  make  out  : 

"  Va  Beg,  eshha  liina  el  medani 
Ya  Beg,  eshha  bina  el  nesrani." 

which  would  mean  : 

"  O  Beg,  we  long  for  the  field  of  battle, 
O  Beg,  we  long  to  meet  the  Christians." 

But  it  was  not  very  easy  to  catch  the  words,  and  our  guide, 
when  asked,  said  that  they  were  singing  : 

"  O  Beg,  we  are  beating  out  nitre." 

that  is,  to  make  powder  for  war.  We  stayed  with  them  but  a 
few    minutes,   and  were  glad  to   escape   so   peaceably,   even 


326  NIPPUR. 

though  the  song  was  not  reassurhig.     We  left  them  marching 
and  shouting. 

Our  road  was  along  a  very  ancient  low-banked  canal,  not 
the  Shatt-en-Nil  of  to-day,  which  is  to  the  east,  and  which  we 
did  not  see.  The  old  canal  looked  like  a  road,  and  was  lined 
with  pottery.  Our  rendezvous  was  Chirfan,  but  the  caravan 
had  gone  on  to  Niffer.  There  is  nothing  of  interest  at  Chir- 
fan, only  low  lines,  hardly  mounds.  We  passed  through  a 
vast  herd  of  camels  feeding,  perhaps  five  thousand  in  number. 
We  hurried  on  from  Chirfan  to  Niffer,  although  our  guide 
was  too  tired  to  walk,  and  Noorian  and  I  had  to  take  turns  in 
giving  him  a  ride,  and  reached  the  tents  of  the  Affech  about 

4-30. 

Sunday,  January  25th.  A  rainy  day,  and  we  remained  in 
our  tents,  only  going  in  the  afternoon,  in  a  slight  drizzling 
rain,  to  the  neighboring  tel  of  Niffer.  The  hills  looked  immense 
when  on  them.  There  are  two  clusters  of  hills,  less  wide  than 
long,  separated  by  what  we  were  told  is  the  Shatt-en-Nil,  cov- 
ered with  pottery  for  vast  extents,  steep  and  high,  and  difficult 
of  ascent  with  horses.  There  is  no  construction  visible,  and 
only  in  a  few  places  layers  of  unburnt  bricks  and  remains  of 
graves.  As  we  took  our  bearings  and  pictures,  a  crowd  of 
men  and  boys  followed  us.  We  stole  a  picture  of  them  in  a 
ravine,  as  they  lay  down  wrapped  in  their  cloaks,  watching  us 
in  the  cold  mist,  close  by  the  camera,  and  unsuspicious  what 
we  did,  or  they  would  have  angrily  resented  it.  In  the  even- 
ing our  host,  Sheikh  Awad,  killed  a  lamb  and  gave  us  a  supper, 
himself  sitting  with  us  on  the  ground,  and  tearing  the  meat 
into  fragments  with  his  fingers  and  giving  it  to  us. 

Monday,  January  26th.  Left  Niffer  at  9.30,  guided  by  our 
host.  At  10.40  passed  three  mounds  of  Abu  Jowan,  running 
lengthwise  directly  across  our  course.  At  11.05  ^^'^  were  by 
Shan,  or  Nishan  (boundary)  el-Bed'a.  At  11.20  passed  Tellul 
el-Bed'a,  with  Tel  Shan  Hindi  about  an  hour  to  the  left. 
Came  to  Kal'at  Ejhesh,  a  mud  fort,  at  12.05,  and  crossed  the 

Bearings  from  Niffer:  Ziblieh,  328°;  Estel,  352i°  ;  Ammal,  335|-336^'^ 
(fourth  hill  not  \-isible) ;  Ibn  Kerbul,  29if  °  ;  Tel  Doran,  5l|°  ;  Tel  Abu 
Zen,  6g' ;  Tel  Delehem,  130°  ;  Suk  Affej,  170'  (large). 


APPENDIX  F.  12  J 

Stream  Ejhesh  a  few  minutes  later,  where  we  were  delayed 
twenty  minutes  by  Haynes's  horse  falling  with  him  into  the 
water.  During  the  day,  under  the  guidance  of  our  host,  'Adi, 
from  Niffer,  and  two  other  mounted  spearmen,  we  had  skirted 
along  the  side  of  the  great  Affech  marsh,  and  crossed  in- 
numerable small  streams  or  canals.  The  servants  that  we  had 
brought  with  us  began  to  be  afraid  to  go  farther,  and  asked 
leave  to  go  to  Diwanieh,  as  also  did  our  zaptieh.  But  'Adi 
told  him  :  "  You  go  back,  and  they  will  report  at  Hillah  that 
you  left  them,  and  then  won't  you  be  happy  ?  "  So  he  and  the 
servants  continued  reluctantly.  The  marsh  was  not  reassur- 
ing to  any  of  us,  remembering  how  we  had  been  told  at  Bagh- 
dad that  we  could  never  bring  out  our  caravan  when  the  flood 
began  to  rise.  Our  stopping  place  for  the  night  was  Seid 
Firhan.  We  were  most  hospitably  received  by  Sheikh  Dhahar, 
son  of  Sheikh  Firhan,  after  whom  the  village  is  called.  The 
houses  are  made  of  reed  arches  covered  over  with  mats. 

After  getting  our  drenched  companion  cared  for  we  started 
for  the  little  tel-Ubyadh  southeast  of  the  village  to  take  obser- 
vations. A  crowd  accompanied  us  to  the  top.  Young  Sheikh 
Dhahar  encouraged  us  with  promising  information  as  to  our 
future  course,  telling  us  that  we  would  find  villages  in  plenty, 
and  not  much  water.  He  provided  us  a  supper,  an  admirable 
meal  of  chicken  and  pilaf.  He  gave  me  big  pieces  in  my 
hand,  and  then  helped  his  father,  giving  him  a  special  plate. 
We  were  invited  later  to  see  a  dance.  Several  young  folks 
sang  a  monotonous  refrain,  and  four  boys,  two  of  them  quite 
small,  danced  the  same  dance  over  and  over.  They  would 
clap  their  hands  and  jump  up  and  down  on  their  feet  in  uni- 
son, and  squat  down,  and  one  of  them  would  put  his  hands  in 
mine.  Then  came  a  youngster  with  a  double  reed  flute,  fitted 
with  bitumen,  and  played  on  it.  I  exchanged  my  nickel 
whistle  for  it,  and  the  boys  were  delighted  to  get  each  a  new 
silver  piastre.  The  night  was  cold,  and  the  people  built  fires 
for  the  comfort  of  their  great  black  buffaloes. 

Bearings  from  Tel  Ubyadh  :  Xiffer,  295'  ;  Delehem,  156"  (across  the 
marsh)  ;  Tel  el-Lehan,  125  (middle  uf  the  marsh  near  us)  ;  Kal'at  Bed'a, 
190". 

Sera-Soukh,  or  Serasoubli  of  Kiepert's  map,  is  not  known. 


328  KIP  PUR. 

Tuesday,  January  27th.  Left  Firhan  at  9.35  with  two  Af- 
fech  guides,  and  Sheikh  Dhahar.  At  3.05  we  reached  Bismya. 
At  times  during  the  day  we  seemed  to  be  passing  along  by  an. 
old  canal,  but  were  not  certain.  We  were  told  we  should 
reach  the  Shat-en-Nil  at  Dhahar,  We  spent  the  night  half  an 
hour  beyond  Bismya,  by  an  encampment  of  eight  tents  of  Beni 
Rechab  Arabs,  who  had  just  come  from  the  Tigris.  These 
Arabs  did  not  seem  hospitably  disposed,  and  would  provide 
nothing  for  us.  We  put  up  an  awning  by  our  single  tent  for  our 
men.  It  rained  hard  all  night,  and  we  and  our  luggage  were 
wet  through.  Our  soldier  told  them  that  we  had  been  sent  by 
the  Government  to  see  what  could  be  done  to  control  the  irri- 
gation of  the  country  and  make  it  productive.  At  night,  after 
sitting  and  talking,  the  Arabs  danced  about  wildly,  singing 
war-songs,  and  after  we  had  retired  we  heard  guns  fired,  and 
bullets  passed  near  our  tent.  When  we  asked  if  they  wished 
to  frigliten  us,  they  replied  that  it  was  to  frighten  wild  beasts, 
and  robbers. 

Wednesday,  January  28th.  The  storm  passed,  and  the 
morning  broke  clear  and  windy.  Before  breakfast  Noorian, 
Firhan's  men,  and  I  started  to  see  as  much  of  Bismya  as  pos- 
sible, while  our  men  were  hurrying  to  get  away  from  the  Arab 
camp.  We  struck  a  corner  of  the  surrounding  wall,  and  five 
minutes  later  reached  the  hill  from  which  the  observations 
were  taken.  I  looked  carefully  for  relics,  but  saw  only  un- 
inscribed  bricks  and  pottery,  little  of  it  blue  glazed,  and  some 
fragments  of  the  compact  black  stone.  It  was  a  large  city, 
and  may  have  been  the  fortress  of  a  swamp  region.  We 
crossed,  Tuesday,  a  considerable  swamp  before  reaching  it, 
and  were  told  it  was  the  Khor  el-'Ayla,  which  had  till  five  or 
six  years  before  been  deep  water,  but  that  the  water  had  been 
carried  off  by  the  breaking  of  the  Hindieh  Dam.  It  was  said 
that  Bismya  had  itself  been  three  fourths  surrounded  by  water. 
The  walls  of  Bismya  are  very  irregular,  but  generally  quadran- 

Bearings  from  Bismya  :  Delehem,  286°  ;  Tel  Abu  Hatab,  239^°  (another 
of  the  name) ;  Tel  Dhahar,  152°  ;  Tel  Abu  Matabel,  257!°  ;  Tel  el-Haidi, 
33^°  ;  Tel  el-Haudhliye,  71^°  ;  Tel  Abu  Falas,  6i|°  ;  Tel  el-Bedh,  146^°  ; 
Tel  Abu  'Ashuf,  i6c4-°. 


APPEXDIX  F.  329 

giilar,  with  the  corners  to  the  cardinal  points.  I  had  not  time 
to  go  around  it  as  I  desired.  It  is  one  of  the  largest  tels.  At 
the  west  corner  is  a  considerable  square  and  the  principal 
elevation.  There  seem  to  be  two  chief  squares,  one  quite  ex- 
tensive, and  part  of  a  third  to  the  south.  There  is  in  the 
second  a  hill  which  may  have  been  a  ziggurat,  and  which  is 
used  as  a  graveyard. 

We  left  camp  at  9.30  and  passed  many  ruined  forts,  deserted 
since  the  water  was  stopped.  At  10.00  passed  el-Berash  to  the 
right  and  el-Umm  Rawah,  nearer  to  the  left,  very  small.  All 
deserted.  There  were  ditches  around,  and  a  few  encamp- 
ments of  Beni  Rechab  Arabs.  At  10.15  P-'issed  an  insignifi- 
cant elevation  of  two  to  six  feet,  called  Hemar.  At  10.40 
struck  the  Nahr  el-Bedhr,  by  a  very  small  tel,  el-Zerayish. 
At  10.52  passed  Tel  el-Bedhr,  a  fair-sized  long  mound  to  the 
left,  and  reached  Dhahar  at  11.35.  The  Shatt-en-Nil  was 
reported  to  be  behind  Jidr.  The  line  of  the  Shatt-el-Kehr 
was  to  the  left.  At  12.30  we  crossed  a  small  tel,  el-Melha.  A 
line  of  several  small  hills  to  the  left  seemed  to  indicate  an  old 
canal.  At  2.52  we  reached  the  Shatt-el-Kehr,  a  swift  stream 
twenty  feet  wide  and  a  foot  and  a  half  deep,  with  a  shelly  bot- 
tom. We  crossed  the  Shatt,  and  in  a  few  minutes  reached  Tel 
Hammam. 

All  day  from  Dhahar  to  Hammam,  and  thence  to  Sheikh 
Hashm,  we  had  seen  nothing  living  on  the  ground  larger  than 
ants,  except  two  toads.  All  was  barren,  and  yet  there  were 
old  canals  and  castle  granaries.  We  were  told  that  there  had 
been  some  population  there,  but  that  six  or  eight  years  before 
a  governor  had  doubled  the  taxes,  which  the  people  could  not 
pay,  whereupon  he  had  shut  off  the  water  which  came  through 
the  Daghara  and  the  Affech  Khor,  and  now  it  had  gone,  they 
said,  to  the  Hindieh  and  was  lost  to  the  Daghara  Canal.  This 
lowered  the  Shatt-el-Kehr  also,  and  famine,  followed  by  plague, 
resulted,  and  the  country  was  wholly  deserted. 

We  remained  an  hour  or  more  at  Hammam,  taking  photo- 
Bearings  from  Dhahar  :   Bismya,  332'  ;    Bedhr.  341°  ;    Tel  Barsha,  313°  ; 
Hammam,  162^°  ;  Ummel-Merba,  87'  ;  Umm  Zaffeta,  104°  ;  Aub    Hatab, 
241'. 


330  NIPPUR. 

graphs.  The  ruins  are  not  as  extensive  as  those  at  Dhahar, 
and  not  impressive,  except  the  single  conspicuous  tower  of 
unburnt  bricks,  split  from  the  top,  which  reminds  one  of  Zib- 
lieh.  The  Arabs  call  this  one  of  "  the  towers  of  Anter,"  and 
say  they  were  built  as  towers  for  beacon  fires.  The  tradition 
which  connected  them,  not  with  Nimrod,  but  with  the  time  of 
the  Baghdad  Caliphate,  may  have  its  value  as  indicating  the  age 
of  these  constructions  of  unburnt  brick  still  standing  upright. 
The  large  tels  thus  far  are,  Niffer,  Delehem  (Derehem, 
near  by,  is  called  its  brother),  Bismya,  Dhahar,  Fara,  and 
Hammam. 

Leaving  Hammam,  our  guide  took  us  directly  back  north  up 
the  Shatt-el-Kehr  to  find  a  place  where  we  could  get  food  and 
fodder.  We  had  to  travel  two  hours,  and  it  was  quite  dark 
before  we  reached  the  ford  over  the  Shatt-el-Kehr  (Karaat 
Harhurre,  or  el-Seid),  and  the  welcome  village  of  Hashm, 
called,  like  so  many,  after  the  name  of  the  Sheikh,  or  rather, 
here,  Khaya.  He  is  a  bright,  pleasant  young  fellow,  and  the 
people  thanked  us  for  coming,  regretting  that  we  had  not  sent 
word  in  order  that  they  might  have  provided  better  for  us. 
We  were  received  and  lodged  in  the  muthif,  or  public  house 
of  the  village,  a  fine  building,  which  much  impressed  us  with 
its  beauty  and  roominess.  It  was  forty  feet  long,  eleven  wide, 
and  eight  high,  and  was  made  of  a  succession  of  round  arches 
of  reeds  tied  together,  each  arch  being  eighteen  inches  thick 
at  the  bottom,  with  an  oval  section,  and  about  six  inches  thick 
at  the  top,  with  a  round  section.  The  reeds  composing  the 
arches  were  tied  together  at  distances  of  six  inches  with  two 
reed  ropes.  The  sides  were  of  horizontal  fasces  of  reeds,  tied 
together  at  distances  of  a  foot,  two  inches  in  diameter,  and 
four  inches  apart.  The  framework  of  these  arches  and  their 
sides  were  covered  with  matting,  and  there  was  a  single  low 
door  at  one  of  the  two  ends.  The  impression  of  the  whole 
from  the  inside  was  airy  and  graceful.  Near  the  door  was  an 
open  fireplace,  and  our  beds  and  luggage  were  put  in  the  far- 
ther end  of  this  village  inn.     The  ample  fireplace  was  four 

Bearings  from  Unmmam  :  Dhahar,  343"  ;  Djedr,  23f°  ;  Djid  (or  Ede), 
192^  ;  Um  el-Batush,  664"  ;  Tel  Harahe,  134^°. 


APPENDIX  F.  331 

^eet  across,  with  a  low  mud  wall  about  it,  and  within  it  eight 
coffeepots  of  various  sizes,  besides  the  monster  one  in  the 
corner.  Coffee  was  made  in  the  most  elaborate  way.  Then 
we  waited  till  9.10  for  supper,  as  we  had  come  so  late.  Our 
host  said  that  he  regretted  we  were  so  few,  and  added  that 
the  day  before  he  had  entertained  three  hundred  horsemen. 
We  did  not  believe  it,  but  accepted  the  hospitable  intent, 
which  was  emphasized  by  the  fact  that  they  would  take  no 
money  for  the  entertainment  of  our  people  or  our  beasts. 
The  supper  was  the  best  we  had  yet  enjoyed  anywhere  in 
Babylonia.  First  a  great  mat  was  laid  on  the  ground  near  the 
middle  of  the  muthif.  Then  there  was  laid  upon  it  an  im- 
mense tinned  copper  platter,  over  two  feet  in  diameter,  piled 
with  rice  pilaf,  on  the  top  of  which  were  spread  pieces  of 
mutton.  Around  the  platter  were  spread  eleven  big  plates, 
some  of  willowware,  some  of  tinned  copper,  and  in  them  were 
put  three  kinds  of  sauce  for  the  pilaf.  One  was  a  curious 
preparation  of  plums,  another  a  meat  sauce  with  balls  of  hashed 
meat, — both  good,  but  peculiar.  There  was  also  a  very  nice 
sweetmeat,  pekmes  sauce,  finely  flavored,  which  would  have 
been  good  anywhere.  A  servant  stood  and  held  the  big,  square 
Turkish  lantern,  with  colored  glass  corners  to  its  faces.  We 
all  squatted  or  reclined  around  the  mat,  which  was  our  table, 
our  soldiers  and  guides  eating  with  their  fingers,  taking  a  quan- 
tity of  the  pilaf  in  their  hands,  rolling  it  into  a  ball,  and  toss- 
ing it  into  their  mouths.  Our  cook  provided  us  with  spoons, 
and  then  the  host  supplied  more.  He  brought  in  the  dinner 
himself  and  cleared  it  off.  The  meal  was  delightful  after  the 
dreary  breakfast  of  nothing  but  rice  at  the  miserable  Beni 
Rechab  camp  in  the  morning.  Before  supper  the  people 
showed  us  their  watches  of  Paris  make,  with  Turkish  dials. 
After  supper  we  stepped  out  to  see  our  horses  tethered  about 
in  the  beautiful  moonlight,  and  I  sat  up  to  write  until  12.30, 
while  the  people  still  gossiped  about  the  fire. 

Thursday,  January  29th.  After  an  unusually  comfortable 
night,  and  a  breakfast  of  rice  pilaf,  Noorian  and  I,  with  young 
Seid's  younger  brother,  Mohammed,  and  a  servant,  both 
mounted  on  Arab  mares,  started  for  Fara,  a  mound  said  to 


332  X/PFUJ^. 

be  three  hours  distant,  ahhough  it  took  us  four  hours  to 
reach  it,  with  some  galloping.  We  left  es-Seid  at  10.20  and  at 
10.40  reached  Tel  Umm-'Amr.  This  is  a  longish,  low  tel. 
At  11.00  we  started  again.  At  12.37  we  came  to  Nahr  Saheim, 
which  flows  from  and  to  the  Shatt-el-Kehr,  and  is  fifty  to  one 
hundred  feet  wide.  About  1.20  Fara  came  in  sight.  Tel 
Bruf,  long  and  low,  was  a  mile  off  to  the  right.  At  2.00  we 
reached  a  plain  covered  with  pottery,  and  a  long,  low  tel  was 
parallel  to  our  course.  At  2.30  we  reached  Fara,  from  which 
very  few  tels  were  in  sight. 

Fara  is  about  a  mile  in  length,  and  nearly  as  wide,  irregular 
and  low,  not  high  enough  to  be  furrowed  like  Niffer,  and  has 
no  evident  ziggurat,  but  very  many  elevations.  We  reached 
there  so  late  that  I  could  not  go  around  it  or  all  over  it,  but  it 
is  like  the  others,  showing  no  bricks  in  position  as  at  Niffer. 
There  is  ordinary  slag,  and  not  much  sign  of  graves.  It  is  the 
largest  tel  hereabouts.  We  saw  tracks  on  the  tel,  said  to  be  of 
lions.  A  hurried  ride  brought  us  back  to  es-Seid.  Again  we 
were  handsomely  entertained  by  the  young  Sheikh,  or  Khaya. 
The  pekme  we  had  to-night  is  made  of  rice  pounded,  and  the 
rice  water  separated  from  the  starch.  This  is  boiled  with 
sugar,  then  with  milk,  and  spice  is  added,  probably  cinnamon. 
Another  sauce  is  made  of  plums  and  figs  cooked  in  some  sort 
of  a  fluid,  a  little  tart,  with  nut-meats  in  it.  This  time  we  had 
rice  pilaf  with  boiled  chicken.  Seid's  father  is  in  prison  in 
Mahmudieh  because  he  refused  to  pay  a  tax  of  one  part  in 
five  of  the  produce,  in  the  wav  it  was  demanded.  He  did  not 
object  to  the  proportion,  but  wanted  the  tax-collectors  to  come 
at  harvest  time  and  measure,  instead  of  guessing  at  the  amount 
of  the  harvest  and  claiming  the  whole  of  the  actual  product. 
The  people  asked  us  manv  questions  about  our  country,  our 
mosques,  our  Sultan,  our  government,  and  our  taxes.  When 
I  was  asked  if  we  had  to  pay  one  part  in  five,  I  found  it  not 
wholly  easy  to  reduce  our  taxes,  direct  and  indirect,  and  levied 
on  property,  to   the  denomination  of  a  tax   on   harvests.     A 

Bearings  of  Um-'Amr  :  Hammam,  109°  ;  Tel  Jid  (Yid,  also  Ede),  147° ; 
Warka,  184^°. 

Bearings  from  Tel  Fara  ;  Tel  Elojez,  209^  ;  Abu  Hatab,  339°. 


APPEXDIX  F.  333 

young,  white-turbaned  uncle  of  Seid's,  who  wanted  my  pistol 
as  a  present,  asked  about  marriage  and  slavery.  Slaves,  he 
said,  were  obtained  at  Busrah  at  prices  ranging  up  to  two 
hundred  dollars  for  likely  boys  for  eunuchs.  Great  dissatis- 
faction was  expressed  towards  the  Government,  and  a  wish 
that  they  were  under  as  good  a  government  as  ours. 

Friday,  January  30th.  A  short  thunder-storm  began  just  as 
we  were  getting  up  at  5  a.m.,  preparing  for  a  start  at  sunrise. 
We  started  at  9.00  a.m.,  in  a  light  rain.  Our  guide  did  not 
seem  to  understand  that  we  were  bound  for  Yokha,  and  took 
us  down  along  the  Shatt-el-Kehr  to  Hammam,  which  we 
reached  at  10.30.  Not  liking  the  direction  we  were  taking,  I 
got  uneasy  and  told  him  we  must  go  to  Yokha,  and  he  then 
turned  sharp  off  to  the  left,  and  went  through  miles  of  water, 
covering  the  sand.  The  walking  was  not  very  bad,  however 
and  we  made  good  speed,  I  forcing  the  pace.  At  12.30  we 
reached  the  sand  hills.  Among  these  are  intervening  spaces 
of  fertile  but  barren  ground,  which  forms  the  real  level  under 
the  shifting  sand.  It  was  the  most  desolate  scene  conceivable, 
with  the  contrast  of  the  runimel,  or  sand  hills,  on  such  rich 
but  bare  alluvium,  and  the  evidences  of  old  fruitfulness  and 
population  at  every  step.  At  1.15  we  reached  Yokha.  It  was 
a  large  tel,  but  low,  and  I  could  only  gallop  over  it  while  the 
caravan  was  moving.  There  were  many  signs  of  graves,  and 
we  picked  up  a  tripod,  like  those  used  in  baking  pottery,  and 
a  flint  saw.  The  latter  certainly  indicated  a  very  ancient 
site,  but  the  hasty  view  could  not  decide  the  age  of  the  graves. 
The  low  level  of  so  large  a  mound,  evidently  a  favorite  place 
for  burials,  showed  that  it  had  been  much  worn  down  by  time. 

At  2.15  we  reached  Umm-el-Aqarib.  This  jilace,  only  an 
hour  distant,  appeared,  superficially,  to  be  more  important  than 
Yokha,  although  not  so  large.  It  is  not  so  much  covered  with 
sand-drift,  apparently,  for  Yokha  requires  a  guide  to  find  it, 
while  Umm-el-Aqarib  shows  two  considerable  elevations,  a  few 
rods  apart,  with  solid  masonry  of  burnt  bricks  set  in  bitumen. 
The  bricks  have  no  inscriptions,  but  on  the  upper  side  two 

Bearings  from  Yokha:  Hammam,  254}"  ;  Tel  J'J,  or  Yid,  22oi°  ;  Tel 
Abrete,  350!"  ;  Tel  Umm-el-Aqarib,  137^"  ;  Dliahar  (scarcely  visible),  215°. 


334 


NIPPUR. 


depressions.  They  are  of  about  the  usual  length,  but  oxAj 
half  the  usual  width.  At  the  top  of  the  highest  elevation  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  cist,  like  a  grave  of  masonry,  out  of 
which  the  Arabs  had  dug  the  earth  ;  and  near  by  were  frag- 
ments of  two  stone  bowls,  and  I  picked  up  bits  of  flint  saws. 
This  seemed  to  indicate  that  although  the  graves  might  be 
later,  yet  the  mound  was  one  of  high  antiquity.  The  brick 
work  extended  beyond  the  cist  over  the  hill,  and  there  were 
long  lines  of  brick  walls  on  the  lower  levels,  and  many  more 
signs  of  graves,  making  it  a  hopeful  spot  to  dig.  I  simply 
hurried  up  to  this  hill  alone  as  the  caravan  moved  on,  and 
took  bearings,  and  then  hastened  along. 

Our  objective  point  was  Shatra,  but  it  began  to  be  doubtful 
if  we  could  reach  it  that  night  before  nine  o'clock,  and  the 
guide  insisted  that  we  should  stop  at  an  Arab  encampment, 
where  he  declared  he  could  get  barley.  At  last  we  struck  a 
level  of  beautiful  green  to  our  right.  The  water  of  the  Khor 
could  be  seen  beyond  it.  We  saw  a  lot  of  straw,  which  gave 
promise  of  tibn  (chopped  straw  for  the  horses).  As  we  ap- 
proached, one  or  two  men  appeared  in  the  distance.  Then  we 
came  suddenly  upon  a  man  lying  flat  on  his  face  behind  a 
square  of  tibn  scarce  two  feet  high,  through  a  hole  in  which 
straw  fort  he  was  training  his  gun  on  us.  We  laughed  at  him 
when  we  discovered  him,  and  asked  him  about  straw  and 
barley.  The  answer  was  favorable,  and  we  hurried  on,  pass- 
ing a  very  odd  field  in  a  little  valley.  The  clayey  soil  had 
been  dug  into  deep  holes  about  twenty  feet  across,  which  fill 
with  water  and  occupy  half  the  ground.  The  rest  is  cultivated 
with  water  from  these  holes.  It  was  a  ver>'  irregular  field,  and 
looked  like  the  spots  about  a  village  where  the  Arabs  pile 
together  their  ricks  of  rice — as  we  saw  at  last  night's  encamp- 
ment— in  great  wicker,  mud-lined  baskets,  sunk  in  the  ground 
and  covered  with  straw  and  dirt.  Passing  by,  we  reached 
about  sunset  the  encampment  of  Shulal,  Sheikh  of  the  Monte- 
fich  and  Beni  Rechab  tribes  hereabout.  There  were  a  thou- 
sand sheep  and  other  animals  about  the  encampment,  which 
consisted  of  some  fifty  tents.  Shulal's  tent  was  about  sixty 
feet  long.     He  received  us  courteously,  spread  two  rugs  on 


APPENDIX  F.  335 

the  coarse  hair  mat,  and  gave  us  coffee,  the  succession  of 
coffeepots  being  in  a  big  basket,  each  wrapped  in  a  leg  of 
sheepskin. 

Saturday,  January  31st.  I  sent  the  caravan  on  to  Shatra, 
and  Noorian  and  I  returned  to  see  Umm-el-Aqarib  again, 
accompanied  by  the  Sheikh  and  one  of  his  men.  They  amused 
us  with  skilfully  practising  the  qaiti  'a,  crossing  each  other's 
tracks  on  the  gallop,  and  brandishing  their  spears.  The 
ground  was  thinly  covered  with  bushes,  the  prickly,  bushy 
herb  jibjab,  on  which  the  camels  feed.  Another  plant  is  the 
eshnan,  shrubby,  and  with  portulacca-like  leaves,  used  for 
soap,  the  name  of  which  is  in  the  Arabic  translation  of  Isaiah  : 
"  Cleanse  me  with  eshnan,  and  I  shall  be  white  as  wool." 
After  washing  white  clothes  with  soap,  they  wash  them  again 
in  water  in  which  has  been  soaked  the  sun-dried  eshnan,  which 
is  said  to  be  better  than  soap.  In  an  hour  and  a  half  we 
reached  Umm-el-Aqarib  ("  mother  of  scorpions  ").  We 
spent  some  time  going  all  over  the  ruins,  which  impressed  me 
as  making  a  much  more  extensive  tel  than  I  had  supposed  the 
day  before.  The  graves  extended  to  a  great  distance,  and  are 
of  the  same  character,  great  round  pots,  with  some  relics  of 
bones,  pottery,  shells,  alabaster  and  soapstone  vases,  also  flint 
knives  and  saws.  We  gathered  a  hundred  pieces  of  them,  and 
one  nearly  complete  vase,  and  a  piece  of  an  archaic  shell 
cylinder.  One  piece  of  a  vase  seemed  to  have  come  from  an 
alabaster  burial  vase  of  immense  size.  I  think  that  some  of 
the  burial  places  are  brick  cists.  We  returned  with  our  guide 
to  the  encampment,  and  sent  a  man  around  to  ask  of  all  the 
tents  if  any  of  the  women  had  any  "  beads  "  (seal  cylinders). 
The  best  was  an  alabaster  cylinder  belonging  to  the  chief's 
son,  for  which  we  had  to  chaffer  a  long  time,  but  at  last  bought 
it  for  two  rupees,  a  kran,  a  cherek,  and  seven  piastres. 
Shulal  was  ashamed  to  take  any  present,  but  at  last  accepted 
three  mejids  for  his  son.  The  guide  went  with  us  to  Shatra, 
and  we  found  that  Haynes,  who  had  gone  on  before  us  with 
the  caravan,  had  been  most  hospitably  received  by  the  function- 
Bearings  from  Umm-el-Aqarib  :  Hammam,  275^'  ;  Tel-el-Jid  (Tel  Ede), 
238^  ;  Yokha  320^. 


336  NIPPUR. 

aries  of  the  town.  The  Kaimakam  had  sent  word  that  he 
would  call  (he  did  not).  His  messenger  was  an  officer,  an  in- 
telligent man  who  knew  all  about  guns.  He  insistedon  bring- 
ing in  an  excellent  supper  of  chicken,  pilaf,  sweetmeats  (like 
a  cake  in  sugar  syrup),  and  the  inevitable  piecrust.  An 
Armenian  officer  and  other  officers  called  and  spent  the  even- 
ing. We  had  one  room  fitted  up  with  matting  and  bedding, 
and  a  borrowed  rug.  We  were  informed  by  our  captain  that 
a  statue,  like  those  from  Tello,  exists  somewhere  at  a  distance, 
which  I  was  determined  to  see. 

Sunday,  February  ist.  This  was  a  busy  day  at  our  rooms 
in  the  khan,  receiving  visitors.  The  captain  came  early  and 
said  that  our  cook  must  not  pre])are  breakfast,  as  he  had  it  all 
ready.  We  were  not  smart  enough  to  know  that  he  was  lying, 
but  supposed  that  we  must  accept  it  against  our  will,  and  it 
was  nearly  noon  before  it  came.  Meanwhile  he  stayed,  and 
talked  freely  in  Turkish  about  Turkey  and  the  Government, 
and  his  longing  to  go  to  America  and  study  machinery  and 
then  come  back.  With  most  impressive  gestures  he  would  ex- 
plain how  badly  things  went — the  employment  of  incompetent 
men  just  to  give  them  a  place  ;  how  an  attempt  to  build  a 
road  would  drive  the  people  off  and  leave  the  land  to  deso- 
lation ;  how  money  was  extorted  and  retained  by  functionaries. 
The  great  trouble,  he  said,  was  dishonesty.  He  was  deter- 
mined to  work  here  a  year,  and  then  go  to  America  to  study 
machinery  and  railroads.  An  Armenian  doctor  came  and 
talked  a  long  while  about  politics,  speaking  Armenian,  so  that 
others  might  not  understand.  He  asked  all  sorts  of  questions 
about  Egypt,  the  French  in  southern  China,  the  Congo  Con- 
ference, the  opinion  of  people  about  Turkey,  and  what  would 
be  the  likely  upshot  when  war  came, — whether  a  partition  or 
a  protectorate  of  Turkey.  Although  wearing  the  Turkish 
uniform,  he  has  no  love  for  Turkish  rule.  He  does  not  want 
a  Russian  protectorate  or  rule,  but  wants  English  railroads, 
and  an  Armenian  autonomy,  like  the  Bulgarian.  In  the  even- 
ing our  Turkish  captain  came  again,  and  to  our  surprise 
bronglit  us  a  dinner.  We  found  that  we  must  put  a  stop  to 
his  b-osyjitality. 


APPENDIX  F.  337 

I  called  on  the  Kaimakam,  who  wanted  to  know  what  he  was 
to  report  about  us,  and  who  copied  our  passport  received  from 
the  Wali  at  Baghdad.  During  the  day  and  evening  all  the 
other  ofificers  in  the  command  called.  They  all  feel  like  exiles 
from  Constantinople,  and  despise  the  ignorant,  uncultivated 
Arabs,  who  eat  their  pilaf  with  their  fingers,  rolling  it  into  a 
ball  and  tossing  it  into  their  mouths.  They  say  the  Arabs 
hate  them  and  look  upon  them  as  Kafirs,  and  they  repay  hate 
and  abuse  for  hate.  In  the  evening  the  old  fat  second  major 
called,  and  asked  many  questions  about  America.  They  had 
much  curiosity  about  what  kinds  of  grain  and  cattle  we  had, 
and  whether  we  had  irrigation,  and  about  the  climate  and 
weather.  We  got  no  information  about  local  antiquities,  but 
were  told  that  very  likely  those  of  the  Tello  statues  that  went 
to  Turkey  in  the  division  were  still  in  Busrah,  for  who  would 
take  the  trouble  to  send  them  to  Stamboul  ?  One  man,  who 
seemed  to  have  especial  means  of  information,  told  us  that 
there  were  fourteen  statues  found  at  Tello,  sitting  and  stand- 
ing, besides  numerous  smaller  things,  as  tablets,  and  four 
barrels.  The  latter  were  not  in  niches  in  the  walls,  and  were 
small.  M.  de  Sarzec  found  one  head  of  a  statue  protruding 
from  the  ground,  but  broken  from  the  body.  He  then  dug 
and  found  others.  The  man  who  was  his  subordinate  is  rich 
and  lives  in  Nasrieh.  His  name  is  Naum,  and  his  represent- 
ative in  Shatra  is  Selman  Jasm.  Nasrieh  is  the  name  of  a 
town  that  has  sprung  up  within  a  few  years  at  the  junction  of 
the  Shatt-el-Amara  and  the  Euphrates.  It  is  the  seat  of  a 
Mutessarif  under  Busrah,  as  is  this  place.  We  were  told 
that  while  de  Sarzec  was  absent  the  men  found  a  well,  and 
dug  down  very  deep  to  the  bottom,  and  there  found  a 
large  empty  room,  with  no  earth  in  it.  The  workman  was 
frightened,  and  was  drawn  up  and  would  not  go  down  again. 
De  Sarzec  went,  so  we  were  told,  to  Aqarib,  but  worked  there 
only  one  day,  being  driven  off,  or  frightened  away  by  some 
Arab  horsemen.  He  only  dug  a  few  bricks  on  the  top  of  the 
highest  elevation.  There  would  be  no  difficulty  from  Arabs 
in  digging  anywhere  now,  and  it  could  probably  be  done  with- 
out interference  from  any  one.     Zerghul  is  not  far  off,  and  our 

VOL.  1—22 


338  Kirri'R. 

captain  went  there  to  see  if  bricks  could  be  quarried  for  build- 
ing a  station  house  here  ;  but  there  was  no  water,  and  he  found 
it  impracticable.  They  report  a  place  called  Debbu,  which 
ought  to  be  examined.  We  were  told  that  at  a  certain  place 
four  hours  off  is  a  sitting  statue,  like  those  of  Tello,  in  perfect 
condition,  with  head  and  hands,  and  writing  on  the  shoulders. 
We  sent  out  for  coffee,  and  the  kaffejee  refused  to  send  cups 
for  a  Christian.  Our  captain  happened  to  hear  him,  and  he 
cursed  the  man,  his  father,  mother,  brother,  sisters,  and  all  his 
relations. 

■Monday,  February  2d.  We  started  off  with  our  captain  and 
guides  to  see  the  black  statue,  which  seemed  to  be  a  genuine 
thing.  We  passed  the  reed  and  mat  houses,  in  the  mud  walls, 
for  an  hour  and  a  half  ;  and  then  met  scores  of  women,  bare- 
legged to  the  knees,  with  armlets,  anklets,  earrings  and  nose- 
rings, bearing  huge  faggots  of  brush  on  their  heads.  But  after 
nearly  two  hours  travel  we  found  that  they  were  taking  us  to 
Sinkara  (Senkereh),  and  the  stone  was  reported  at  Anek,  not 
far  from  Hammam,  in  quite  a  different  direction, — too  far  for 
us  to  go  there, — and  we  turned  back  to  Shatra.  quite  disap- 
pointed. On  questioning  them,  we  found  that  they  expected 
to  take  us  to  Sinkara,  Ehsem,  Tel  Id  (Ede),  and  Anek,  and 
back.  But  that  would  require  several  days,  and  was  not 
feasible.  It  was  a  day  wasted,  and  all  the  worse  that  they  re- 
port the  river  rising,  and  tell  us  we  shall  be  unable  to  get  south 
with  a  caravan. 

One  of  de  Sarzec's  overseers  gave  this  description  of  the 
French  explorer's  work  at  Tello  : 

"  First  we  found  the  tower  (kash),  and  we  dug  around  it  till 
we  found  the  door.  Then  we  dug  room  by  room,  and  emptied 
it,  and  at  the  bottom  we  found  the  statues.  In  the  middle  of 
one  room  was  a  column  of  bricks,  on  the  top  was  a  cover- 
like brick.  AVe  removed  it  carefully,  and  the  column  was 
hollow,  and  inside  of  it  were  bronze  figures  each  between  two 
stones, — one  stone  green  and  one  white, — in  a  niche  upright. 
The  green  stones  all  had  writing  on  them,  while  the  white 
stones  were  uninscribed.  There  were  many  of  them.  The 
male  figures  were   seated   and  holding  a   stick  upright  ;  the 


APPENDIX  F. 


339' 


female  figures  were  standing,  with  a  sort  of  umbrella,  or  plate,, 
over  their  heads.  On  shelves  in  the  room  were  marble  or 
gypsum  figures.  A  white  inscribed  stone  was  under  each 
figure,  and  an  inscribed  green  one  beside  it.  There  were 
green  ashes  under  the  white  stone.  The  tablets  were  found 
about  a  foot  under  the  bottom  of  the  room,  and  several  barrels 
in  the  earth  at  the  bottom  of  the  room.  The  tablets  were 
longer  than  this  segar  case,  the  barrels  a  hand  long.  We  dug 
twice  as  deep  as  this  room.  (Perhaps  fifteen  or  eighteen 
feet.)" 

Among  the  places  we  heard  of  on  the  east  side  of  the  Shatt- 
el-Hai  are  Medine,  Sereifeh,  'Abba,  el-'Assam,  el-Mahaneh^ 
Abres,  el-Sifr,  Mansurie,  Zerghul,  and  el-Hibba. 

Tuesday,  February  3d.  We  were  to- go  to  Tello  to-day,  and 
our  captain  proposed  to  go  with  us.  So  he  helped  Noorian. 
engage  a  meshhuf, — a  long  narrow  boat  of  teakwood,  pitched 
with  bitumen,  with  a  mast,  but  which  is  propelled,  not  with  a 
sail,  but  by  poling  and  rowing,  or  by  towing.  We  poled  up 
stream  for  a  while,  then  one  of  our  boatmen  got  out  and 
towed.  Then  a  boy  put  his  load  aboard,  and  pulled  by  a 
straw  belt  about  his  arms  and  body,  the  rope  being  tied  to  the 
top  of  the  mast.  We  moved  against  the  current  at  a  fast  walk. 
It  took  us  three  hours  to  get  o])posite  Tello,  and  there  we  got 
out  and  walked.  It  was  over  an  hour's  sharp,  hot  walking  to 
the  mounds. 

The  tel  has  two  ])rincipal  elevations,  the  larger  one  to  the 
south,  and  the  smaller  one,  of  nearly  equal  height,  to  the 
north.  The  latter  is  the  palace  excavated  by  de  Sarzec.  It 
has  a  court  with  rooms  about  it.  We  collected  fragments  of 
cones,  and  photographed  bricks,  both  impressed  with  a  stamp 
and  written.  There  were  few  tombs,  and  no  flint  knives  or 
saws.  We  saw  one  or  two  of  the  large  sunken  burial  jars,  as 
at  Aqarib,  and  some  brick  cists.  The  bricks  are  of  various 
shapes,  some  very  old,  judging  from  the  inscriptions  ;  and 
some  very  late,  with  inscriptions  in  debased  Greek  letters. 

We  delayed  until  an  hour  before  sunset,  and  then  hurried 
back,  reaching  the  boat  as  it  was  getting  dark.  Our  Turkish 
captain  was  worn  out.     Only  Haynes,   who  was  not  feeling 


340  NIPPUR. 

well,  had  taken  an  overcoat.  We  shivered  all  the  way  back, 
although  I,  who  had  carried  the  camera  almost  all  the  way 
back,  was  warmer.  We  pulled  a  rug  over  us,  and  the  hours 
were  long  before  we  got  home  at  nine  o'clock.  Then  I  sat  up 
till  nearly  midnight  reading,  and  trying  to  plan  what  we  can 
do,  as  the  water  is  rising,  and  we  have  so  much  yet  before  us. 
We  are  told  that  Zerghul  alone  will  take  four  days,  and  I 
must  do  something  on  that  side  of  the  river. 

Wednesday,  February  4th.  This  was  substantially  another 
wasted  day.  It  is  very  difficult  to  get  information  how  to 
reach  Zerghul.  Finally  we  decided  to  start  to-morrow,  and 
went  over  the  photographic  plates,  and  made  the  discovery 
that  those  taken  with  the  cabinet  camera  are  worthless. 
This  necessitates  a  second  trip  to  Tello. 

Thursday,  February  5th.  We  left  Shatra  Khan  at  7.55  for 
Zerghul, — Noorian,  Mustafa,  two  zaptiehs,  and  myself.  At 
9.25  we  had  been  taken  across  the  river,  making  two  trips  on 
the  boat,  and  the  horses  swimming.  After  going  a  little  way 
along  the  north  bank  of  the  Bed'a  affluent,  we  struck  to  the 
left  towards  a  small  tel,  named  Sase.  At  10.15  ^^'^  struck  a 
cluster  of  straw  and  mat  villages  on  the  Bed'a,  all  bearing  the 
name  of  Hosein  el-Sahel.  At  10.55  ^^^  ^^^^  the  village  roads, 
and  our  course  was  about  east.  At  10.20  we  turned  to  the 
left,  to  avoid  Khor  'Umuka,  a  lake  a  mile  or  two  wide,  with 
waves.  At  11.30  Tel  Debbu  was  in  front,  long  and  low.  At 
11.40  we  again  struck  the  villages  along  Shaft  el-Bed'a.  At 
12.00  we  attempted  to  strike  for  Debbu,  but  failed  on  account 
of  a  deep  stream,  so  went  north  along  the  left  of  a  deep  canal. 
At  12.20  we  escaped  the  canal,  and  our  course  was  near  a 
lake  to  the  right,  several  miles  wide.  To  the  right  and  nearer, 
were  Benet  el-Me'ede  and  Debbu.  To  the  left  were  Ishare, 
'Ewena,  and  a  tree.  At  11. 15  we  passed  a  small  tel,  with  blue 
glazed  pottery  and  glass.     At  2.00  we  reached  Tel  el-Hibba. 

Bearings  from  Tello  :  Tel  Ehmera-rume,  gy"  ;  Ahu  Huraz,  32°  ;  Abu 
Hawan,  353°  ;  Mahayet,  348°;  Abu-Tufra,  148°;  Umm  el-Ak,  275°  ;  Shatra, 
176°. 

Bearings  from  Tel  el-Hibba:  Zerghul,  118";  Benet  el-Me'ede,  249°; 
Debbu  is  behind  Benet  el-Me'ede  ;  A'uu  Te'ebe,  275°  ;  Tel  'Awena,  302  ^°  ; 
el-Zija,  353  V  ;  el-Afweize,  59j°,  not  very  far  off. 


APPENDIX  F.  341 

This  is  surrounded  by  water  on  all  sides,  except  the  northeast. 
The  mounds,  a  line  of  tels  more  than  a  mile  long,  run  about 
north  and  south,  with  high  elevations  on  the  north  end,  on 
the  Khor  'Awena.  There  is  a  pile  of  inscribed  bricks  at  the 
top  of  the  hill.  There  is  a  principal  elevation,  and  others 
about  it  several  hundred  feet  to  the  northeast.  There  is  a 
brick  platform  here,  and  another  to  the  north,  which  ought  to 
be  explored.  The  graveyard  is  to  the  south,  with  burial  pots 
and  three  brick  cists  visible.  We  saw  no  flint  knives,  one  old 
bone,  shells,  and  pottery.  We  left  Hibba  at  2.50  and  reached 
Zerghul  at  4.45.  Three  minutes  before  reaching  Zerghul  we 
passed  a  little  tel,  el-Ru'bai,  and  observed  glass  on  it. 

Zerghul  is  a  considerable  tel,  higher  than  Hibba,  but  not  so 
large.  It  is  formed  of  a  line  of  hills,  with  a  high  and  sharp 
elevation  at  one  end,  and  another  line  toward  the  south  end, 
running  at  right  angles.  It  has  a  considerable  ziggurat,  and  I 
fancied  that  I  could  see  near  the  top  the  line  of  a  plat- 
form. This  is  too  steep  for  horses  to  be  ridden  up,  and  is 
visible  from  a  good  distance.  I  found  a  few  uninscribed 
cones  to  the  south  of  the  ziggurat,  also  a  few  fragments  of 
inscribed  cones.  On  the  steep  ziggurat  itself  are  no  particu- 
lar remains.  On  the  second  hill  are  pieces  of  bones.  The 
graves  seem  to  have  been  in  cists,  with  cement  covers  ;  and 
big  pieces  of  cement  are  to  be  found.  The  smaller  hill  north 
of  the  ziggurat  has  graves,  and  I  found  there  a  piece  of  an  in- 
scribed cone.  A  great  field  of  graves  to  the  northwest  has 
been  explored  by  Arabs,  and  there  are  burial  pots  also  to  the 
west  and  to  the  southwest.  No  flint  saws  were  picked  up,  and 
only  two  small  inscribed  bricks  were  found  here,  badly  worn, 
like  the  ones  found  on  the  platform,  and  apparently  like  some 
found  at  Tello,  probably  put  in  a  grave.  Afterward  another 
brick  was  found,  complete,  with  inscriptions  in  two  columns, 
the  left-hand  side  having  seven  single  lines  and  one  double 

Bearings  from  Zerghul  :  Shatra,  about  275°,  not  visible  ;  Hibba  (large), 
299^°  ;  Tel  el-Ashareyat,  342^  (seven  hills,  or  more  probably  a  part  of 
Hibba)  ;  Tel  el-Baira,  63^°  (two  or  three  times  as  far  as  Hibba) ;  el-Tel,  98° 
(as  far  as  Hibba)  ;  Tel  Kubr  es-Sheikh,  2464°  ;  Khor  el  'Amuka,  to  the 
south. 


342  NIPPUR. 

line,  and  the  right-hand  side  having  five  lines,  of  which  all 
but  the  fourth  are  double.  Another  brick  was  found,  not 
stamped,  but  zvritten,  from  the  extremest  northern  hill.  This 
also  was  archaic.  There  were  on  this  fragment  five  lines,  each 
an  inch  and  a  half  wide. 

Our  trip  to  Zerghul  wjs  taken  in  pleasant  weather.  There 
were  flocks  of  white  cranes  on  the  water,  also  storks  and 
ravens  to  be  seen  in  abundance.  Men  were  digging  canals, 
and  going  to  and  from  their  work,  marching  and  singing. 
We  had  to  make  long  detours  to  get  about  the  canals.  There 
is  not  one  of  them  straight.  The  people  cannot  make  a 
straight  ditch  or  a  straight  furrow.  There  is  nothing  straight 
in  the  country  except  the  British  telegraph  line.  There  is  an 
immense  waste  of  labor  on  the  canals.  As  we  approached 
Zerghul  an  Arab  there  said  that  he  could  not  give  us  barley, 
although  we  mentioned  an  extravagant  price.  We  then  went 
half  a  mile  beyond  Zerghul  to  a  sheikh's  tent,  and  were  well 
•entertained.  He  gave  us  pilaf  in  a  big  dish,  with  mutton, 
which  he  tore  with  his  hands  from  the  bone  and  passed  to  us. 
He  would  roll  up  a  ball  of  pilaf  and  hand  it  to  our  people. 
Some  milk  was  very  acceptable.  We  all  of  us  slept  very  cold, 
■on  a  single  rug,  in  our  clothes.  I  had  on  my  meshla,  but  it 
was  an  uncomfortable  night  for  us  all.  Our  host  was  hospita- 
ble, and  provided  us  in  the  morning  with  more  milk  and  a 
large  loaf  of  rye  bread,  and  went  with  us  to  Zerghul.  On  the 
hill  I  bought  of  an  Arab  a  piece  of  a  monstrous  worn  marble 
cylinder,  which  may  have  been  the  top  of  a  staff,  engraved  in 
archaic  style  with  bulls,  and  said  to  have  been  found  on 
Zerghul. 

Friday,  February  6th.  We  left  Zerghul  at  9  a.m.  and 
reached  Shatra  in  the  evening. 

Saturday,  February  7th.  Haynes,  Noorian,  and  I  visited 
Tello  again  for  photographs.  We  were  three  and  a  half  hours 
going,  and  a  little  less  returning.  We  spent  most  of  our  time 
in  taking  photographs  of  the  ruins,  and  of  bricks.  The  main 
direction  of  the  hills  and  buildings  at  Tello  is  southeast  and 
northwest.  The  chief  building  is  at  the  northwest  end,  and 
is   made  of  bricks  bearing  the  two-column  stamped  inscrip- 


APPEXDIX  F.  343 

tion.  It  is  twenty-three  paces  long,  and  nineteen  wide,  the 
width  running  southeast  and  northwest.  There  are  several 
walls  with  bricks  arranged  in  different  ways,  one  with  bricks 
wedge-shaped,  in  sectors  of  a  circle.  One  of  these  bricks  had 
a  written  cuneiform  inscription. 

There  must  be  in  the  chief  palace  several  different  ages,  as 
some  rooms  have  the  bricks  written,  others  stamped  with  a 
two-column  inscription,  and  others  with  a  bi-lingual  inscrip- 
tion in  a  late  Phoenician  or  Palmyrene  character  of  four  lines, 
with  the  name  of  Adadnadin.  Some  bricks  had  a  written  in- 
scription in  one  large  column,  coarsely  written,  and  somewhat 
variant.  I  tried  very  hastily  to  copy  the  written  ones,  after 
Haynes  had  started  and  it  was  getting  late,  but  depended  on 
the  cabinet  photographs,  which  again  failed  us.  There  is  a 
maze  of  rooms  about  the  sides  of  the  hall,  which  has  very  in- 
conspicuous entrances.     There  are  graves  all  about. 

Monday,  February  9th.  Left  Shatra  at  8.30  for  Nasrieh, 
otherwise  called  Merkez.  All  Shatra  came  together  to  see  us 
off.  We  went  down  the  right  bank  of  the  Shatt-el-Hai.  In  a  few 
minutes  w-e  left  it  and  struck  a  course  about  south.  The 
ground  is  perceptibly  greener,  and  the  prickly  shrub  shows 
young  leaves.  We  tried  to  ford  the  Shatt-el-Ishbebe,  but 
failed,  the  water  being  up  to  the  top  of  the  horses'  backs. 
This  Shatt  starts  from  the  el-Hai  and  goes  to  the  Euphrates. 
We  turned  to  the  right  and  crossed  Shatt-el-Ishbebe  by  boat 
at  Detche,  where  was  a  company  of  Turkish  soldiers,  and 
where  we  took  a  soldier  for  guide.  The  crossing  took  an 
hour  and  a  half.  We  started  again  at  1.25.  At  1.40  we 
passed  a  small  tel,  Medineh,  and  picked  up  a  cone.  From 
this  tel  we  saw  Tel  Khadi,  and  Tel  el-Milah  (salt).  A.t 
3.15  we  crossed  the  Shatt-el-Kesra,  and  recrossed  it  at  3.55. 

We  reached  Nasrieh  as  much  as  an  hour  after  sunset,  and 
sent  Noorian  ahead  with  a  zaptieh  to  find  a  khan.  They  re- 
turned, reporting  that  there  was  none,  and  I  told  them  to  go 
directly  to  the  Government  House,  which  is  the  headquarters 
of  a  Mutessarif.  He  received  us  most  hospitably,  and  supi)er 
and  room  w^ere  given  us,  while  the  men  tethered  the  animals 
in  the  court  and  set  up  the  tent. 


344  NIPPUR. 

But  while  the  men  were  at  supper  a  soldier  stole  Mustafa's 
bag  of  clothes,  with  which  were  two  liras,  and  a  little  Aintab 
money,  which  is  uncurrent  here,  Luckily  Mustafa  is  a  Mos- 
lem. Noorian  told  him  to  tell  the  soldiers  that  if  it  was  a 
joke  the  things  had  better  be  returned,  as  he  did  not  want  the 
Bey  (meaning  me)  to  complain  to  the  Mutessarif.  So  Mustafa 
spoke  to  the  katfejee,  and  he  to  the  commander  of  the  soldiers, 
and  the  worthless  things  were  returned  during  the  night.  Our 
beds  were  placed  in  a  room  adjoining  the  hall  of  audience, 
which  had  books  and  bags  of  paper  in  it.  An  excellent  sup- 
per of  six  or  eight  courses  was  provided  for  us.  We  made 
inquiries  about  tels.  One  Selman  el-Hamid-el-Ghazawi,  who 
seemed  more  intelligent  than  the  rest,  said  that  the  largest  of 
all  the  tels  of  the  region  is  Tel  Sifr  ;  that  Abla  is  larger  than 
Yokha,  but  not  so  high.  He  mentioned  Assam  Beniye, 
Medeien,  or  Medineh,  Bedhr,  Umm  Gheyar  (Mughair), 
Warka,  Enfeje,  and  Jid  (Ede).  He  said  that  Beniye  is  mid- 
dle-sized, that  Medeien  has  three  hills,  and  is  two  days  from 
Merkez.  Enfeje  is  not  large  and  is  near.  Sifr  is  the  largest, 
then  Warka,  and  Medeien  next.  Umm  Gheyar  is  of  middle 
size. 

Tuesday,  February  loth.  We  spent  the  day  in  making  in- 
quiries and  laying  plans  to  visit  Mughair  and  Abu-Shahrein. 
We  planned  to  start  the  next  morning  for  the  two  places,  and 
also  to  go  to  Quseyr,  if  possible  with  horses.  Noorian  whis- 
pered to  the  Mutessarif,  telling  him  about  the  stealing.  He 
is  a  young  man  lately  come  from  Baghdad.  He  was  evi- 
dently mortified  and  called  the  kaffejee  and  an  officer,  and 
gave  orders,  and  had  ^^lustafa  inquired  of,  and  we  awaited 
the  result.  We  moved  our  tent  to  a  vacant  lot  we  had  hired 
on  the  bank  of  the  Euphrates,  and  Haynes  and  Noorian  made 
up  their  bed  in  a  corner  out  of  doors,  under  rubber  blankets. 
In  the  night  there  came  a  thunder-storm,  and  while  they  were 
not  much  wet,  their  clothes  under  the  bed  were  considerably 
wet.  Meanwhile  the  water  or  the  barley  bread  which  we  had 
been  compelled  to  eat  on  the  journey  had  affected  me  seri- 
ously. This  bread,  so  much  used  among  the  Arabs,  is  made 
of  meal  which  has  been   ground,  or  powdered,  with  the  thin 


APPENDIX  F.  345 

husk  not  removed,  and  it  is  harsh  to  the  mouth,  and  must  be 
irritating  to  the  bowels. 

Wednesday,  February  nth.  It  has  been  a  miserable,  wet 
day,  too  wet  to  travel.  Everybody  was  uncomfortable,  and  I 
kept  in  bed  all  day,  trying  to  conquer  my  illness,  as  we  are, 
and  shall  be,  out  of  the  reach  of  any  physician.  In  the  after- 
noon it  cleared  up,  and  we  had  our  clothes  and  bedding  hung 
out  to  dry.  Mustafa  has  recovered  nearly  all  his  things,  ex- 
cept the  two  liras.  The  uncurrent  coin  was  returned.  They 
found  the  soldier,  who  had  got  an  excuse  to  go  out  with  a  bag 
under  his  clothes,  and  had  him  bastinadoed  until  he  con- 
fessed, but  he  would  not  return  the  money,  one  lira  of  which 
had  been  entrusted  to  Mustafa  to  make  purchases  in  Dam- 
ascus. 

Thursday,  February  12th.  Our  tent  is  on  the  very  bank  of 
the  Euphrates,  which  is  visibly  rising.  The  bank  is,  of 
course,  used  by  every  one  as  a  water-closet,  which  must,  as 
we  have  often  observed  in  passing  streams  or  rivers,  be  pro- 
ductive of  disease.  Near  Zerghul,  however,  we  observed  the 
more  sanitary  practice  required  by  the  Mosaic  law.  The  day 
was  very  pleasant,  and  we  started  by  9.45,  and  walked  very 
slowly  up  the  river.  At  10.45  ^^'^  were  near  a  small  tel,  Kura, 
and  another  to  the  right  of  it.  We  crossed  the  Euphrates  at 
'Arjeh,  and  started  again  at  11.13.  At  12.50  we  turned  to  the 
south,  and  reached  the  tents  of  Sheikh  Me'eide,  of  a  Ma'dan 
tribe,  about  1.20,  where  we  stopped  for  the  night.  Along  this 
trip  my  notes  are  very  imperfect,  as  my  illness  weakened  me 
so  that  I  could  hardly  keep  on  my  horse,  and  had  to  be 
helped  to  mount. 

Friday,  February  13th.  Left  camp  at  7.30.  Reached  Mug- 
hair  at  9.00.  At  Mughair  we  were  not  more  than  three  hours 
from  Abu-Shahrein,  and  I  would  have  gone  there  if  I  had 
been  well,  but  I  did  not  dare  run  the  risk.  It  was  with  some 
persuasion  that  we  got  permission  from  the  Mutessarif  at  Nas- 
rieh  to  go  to  Mughair,  and  he  thought  it  necessary  to  send  five 
of  his  soldiers  with  us,  under  a  sergeant,  and  said  that  if  we 
went  beyond  to  Abu-Shahrein  it  must  be  alone  and  at  our 
own  risk,  as  the  Arabs   were  not  friendly.     The  sheikh  with 


346  .  NIPPUR. 

whom  we  stopped  over-night  was  at  first  willing  to  introduce 
us  to  other  Arabs  who  would  take  us  to  Abu-Shahrein,  but  the 
next  morning  he  refused  to  do  so,  as  the  letter  of  the  Mutes- 
sarif  only  gave  us  safe  conduct  to  Mughair,  and  I  had  been 
obliged  to  give  the  Mutessarif  a  letter  relieving  him  from  re- 
sponsibility if  I  went  any  farther.  Still,  I  should  have  gone 
but  for  my  sickness.  I  was  unable  to  go  about  Mughair  as  I 
wanted  to,  and  had  to  lie  down  most  of  the  time,  while  Haynes 
and  Noorian  were  taking  photographs.  I  went  all  around  the 
tel  on  my  horse,  and  nearly  over  and  around  the  chief  eleva- 
tion on  foot,  but  could  make  no  notes.  The  buttresses  de- 
scribed by  Taylor  are  still  visible.  One  corner  of  the  mound 
has  been  dug  down,  and  a  hole  dug  in  the  centre. 

I  left  Mughair  at  11.00,  and  rode  direct  for  the  'Arjeh  cross- 
ing, through  the  Khor  where  it  was  narrow,  with  thickets  of 
high  reeds,  and  with  the  water  deep  enough  in  places,  I  fear, 
to  wet  the  photographic  plates.  Coming  from  behind  the 
thick  reeds  into  an  open  space  several  rods  wide,  we  came 
upon  a  great  black  wild  sow,  with  three  well-grown  pigs.  She 
faced  us  without  the  least  fear.  I  was  following  next  to  the 
Arab  guide,  and  noticed  that  he  swerved  suddenly  to  the 
right  into  deeper  water,  before  I  saw  the  reason.  We  all 
passed  Indian  file,  each  looking  back,  and  leaving  the  im- 
mense animal  mistress  of  her  watery  fortress.  We  reached 
'Arjeh,  half  an  hour  above  Nasrieh,  at  1.35,  where  we  crossed. 

Saturday,  February  14th.  Mustafa's  money  has  not  been  re- 
covered. The  Mutessarif  feels  badly.  He  says  that  hospital- 
ity is  part  of  his  religion,  and  that  it  now  seemed  as  if  they 
had  received  us  to  rob  us.  We  heard  that  he  told  the  soldier 
who  stole  it  that  we  would  make  Turkey  not  worth  a  para  to 
other  countries  when  we  returned  and  reported  it. 

Crossing  the  Euphrates  at  'Arjeh,  we  started  up  the  river 
on  the  west  side  at  11.58.  I  have  no  notes  of  the  journey,  ex- 
cept of  a  mound  named  el-'Abid,  named  after  a  tribe,  and 
that  at  5.50  we  stopped  at  an  Arab  village,  and  occupied  the 
muthif  of  Hosein,  of  the  el-'Abid  tribe,  on  the  bank  of  the  Eu- 

Bearings  from  Mughair :  Abu-Shahrein,  211^2°;  Salahieh,  l88^°;  Nas- 
rieh Minaret,  56j4°  ;  es-Saheri,  298^". 


APPEXDIX  F.  347 

phrates.  Our  Arab  guide  would  not  eat  our  food,  and  our 
soldier,  Abbas,  whom  we  had  brought  all  the  way  from  Hil- 
lah,  abused  him  generally,  saying  that  he  could  not  eat  good 
bulghur  with  butter,  but  would  wait  for  bad  bulghur  without 
butter,  made  by  Arabs.     My  health  has  improved  somewhat. 

Sunday,  February  15th.  On  the  beautiful  Euphrates.  There 
are  many  watering  machines,  and  we  find  barley  a  foot  high 
and  can  get  green  fodder  for  our  animals,  but  no  barley  in  the 
grain,  and  it  seemed  necessary  to  reach  Samawa  to-day.  So 
we  started  at  6.40.  We  skirted  the  river  for  two  hours,  and 
then  struck  out  over  the  level  ground  away  from  the  river. 
At  4.52  we  came  to  a  considerable  tel,  called  Abu-Berdi.  We 
were  very  sorry  to  travel  on  Sunday,  but  we  had  little  but 
green  fodder  for  the  animals,  which  were  on  short  allowance 
of  barley.  Our  animals  were  not  well  fed  during  all  the  past 
week.  The  Arabs  encamped  at  Mughair,  I  am  told,  declared 
that  they  had  nothing  for  the  horses,  but  the  soldiers  threat- 
ened, and  got  their  guns,  when  they  yielded  and  supplied  rice 
for  the  horses.  It  has  been  a  most  lovely  day,  and  we  have 
followed  no  path,  and  there  has  been  little  water  to  trouble  us. 
There  have  been  patches  of  cultivated  ground  back  of  the 
Ma'dan  villages,  which  dot  the  bank  every  mile  or  two,  with 
their  green  patches  of  barley,  and  their  fresh  mud  castles, 
square,  with  a  little  round  tower  at  each  corner.  Soon  we  left 
them  to  the  right  and  struck  out  into  the  level,  alluvial  wilder- 
ness, a  very  rich  soil,  sandy  enough  to  be  rather  light,  and 
admirable  for  cultivation,  with  scarce  a  weed  or  plant  upon 
it  except  here  and  there  a  crucifer,  which  makes  a  salad  some- 
thing like  peppergrass,  but  not  so  clean-tasting.  The  horses' 
hoofs  sank  into  the  ground,  which  was  thickly  crusted  by 
the  drying  rain,  and  this  made  it  hard  for  the  horses.  Opi)o- 
site  Darajaan  the  guide  said  his  orders  were  to  go  there. 
We  told  him  that  we  had  no  business  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Eui^hrates  and  would  not  go  there,  but  were  going  to  Samawa. 
He  yielded  on  our  promising  him  a  paper  certifying  our  refu- 
sal. Then  he  wanted  to  go  to  el-Kudhr,  said  to  be  four  hours 
from  Samawa,  and  as  it  was  two  o'clock  we  would  have  yielded, 

Bearing  from  Abu-Berdi  :     Xowawis  (a  pointed  tel),  191°. 


348  NIPPUR. 

but  it  was  also  across  the  river.  It  grew  dark  and  no  Samawa 
(the  word  means  Heaven)  appeared.  About  eight  o'clock  we 
struck  a  little  Arab  encampment,  the  dogs  being  our  guide, 
and  we  were  told  that  Samawa  was  half  an  hour  off.  We 
started  off  very  much  encouraged,  but  still  Samawa  seemed 
to  recede.  Never  did  heaven  seem  so  far  off.  At  last, 
about  ten  o'clock,  our  guide  told  us  that  Samawa  was  too  far 
off  to  reach  it,  and  that  we  must  stop  at  an  Arab  encampment 
near  by.  But  had  they  barley  ?  Certainly,  said  he.  So  we 
went  there,  woke  up  the  dogs  and  finally  the  men,  and  settled 
ourselves.  There  was  straw  but  no  barley,  and  it  was  well 
after  ten  when  we  reached  there.  We  set  up  our  tent,  got 
food,  and  our  good  soldier.  Abbas,  quarrelled  frightfully,  but 
unsuccessfully,  for  barley.  The  men  were  not  very  helpful  at 
first,  but  thawed  a  little,  and  we  got  some  half-cooked  bul- 
ghur,  not  fit  to  eat  ;  no  chickens  or  eggs. 

Monday,  February  i6th.  The  morning  was  pleasant,  and 
Samawa  in  sight  scarce  half  an  hour  distant.  We  had  turned 
from  it  for  this  nearer  encampment.  We  actually  got  milk  for 
breakfast,  and  I  trust  that  I  am  none  the  worse  for  the  hard 
day.  But  I  fear  the  horses  are  badly  used  up.  We  would 
not  have  made  such  a  long  day's  march,  but  it  was  impossible 
to  get  information.  These  Arabs  do  not  know  an  hour  from 
a  day.  I  asked  "  how  many  hours  ?  "  and  they  answered, 
"  Just  beyond,"  with  a  gesture.  There  are  no  roads,  no  travel, 
no  maps,  nothing  to  calculate  on. 

We  started  leisurely,  and  came  in  less  than  an  hour  to 
Samawa,  a  town  with  mud  walls,  on  both  sides  of  the  Euphra- 
tes, with  a  bridge  of  boats  across.  Samawa  is  not  on  the 
Ateshan,  as  our  maps  say.  We  crossed  to  the  east  side  of  the 
Euphrates,  which  is  here  a  narrow,  very  swift  river.  We 
found  our  horses  in  a  sort  of  khan,  a  dirty  yard  with  a  shed 
for  the  horses,  and  we  had  to  set  up  our  tent.  Scarcely  had 
we  done  so  before  we  had  a  call  from  a  resident  German,  Dr. 
Blau,  who  introduced  himself.  He  had  heard  through  the 
papers  of  our  expedition,  and  was  much  interested  to  learn  of 
us.  Soon  it  appeared  that  he  had  made  a  valuable  collection  of 
Babylonian   antiquities,  and   I   then   guessed  that  he  was  Dr. 


APPEXDIX  F.  349 

A.  Blau,  who  had  written  on  Arab  ethnology  for  the  Z.  D.  M.  G. 
He  acknowledged  it,  and  was  a  great  comfort  to  us  while  we 
were  in  Sarxiawa.  He  had  been  a  surgeon  in  the  Turkish 
service  but  was  now  engaged  in  trade. 

The  Kaimakam  sent  for  Abbas  to  know  where  he  came  from. 
When  he  learned  that  he  was  from  Hillah  and  had  not  gone 
back  to  his  command,  he  stormed  and  threatened  him  with 
six  months  in  prison  as  a  deserter,  and  to  telegraph  to  Hillah  ; 
and 'sent  him  back  to  us  under  guard  for  further  information. 
We  were  absent,  but  our  men  blustered,  said  we  had  firmans 
from  Stamboul  and  Baghdad,  and  told  Abbas  not  to  be  afraid. 
Meanwhile  an  officer  was  sent  to  inquire  about  us.  liy  this 
time  we  had  returned  and  Dr.  Blau  with  us,  and  he  explained 
things  and  went  with  us  to  call  upon  the  Kaimakam.  He  was 
very  oolite,  and  quietly  dropped  the  matter  about  Abbas.  I 
then  went  with  Dr.  Blau  to  his  shop,  and  while  seated  on  his 
bales  of  cotton  a  messenger  came  to  say  that  the  Kaimakam 
would  call  on  us.  I  went  back  and  we  received  him  all  se- 
rene. Dr.  Blau  deals  in  cloths,  wool,  leather,  etc.,  which  he 
buys  in  Busrah  ;  but  gives  his  attention  largely  to  the  collec- 
tion of  antiquities.  He  showed  me  his  collection  of  some 
costly  cylinders  and  other  valuable  objects.  He  would  not 
sell  any,  but  intends  in  two  years  to  return  to  Germany  and 
dispose  of  them  there. 

Tuesday,  February  17th.  It  rained  and  we  were  obliged  to 
lose  another  day.    I  took  wax  impressions  of  Dr.  Blau's  seals. 

Wednesday,  February  iSth.  Left  Samawa  gate  on  the  west 
side  at  8.05  for  el-Khudhr.  We  went  back  on  the  Shamieh 
road  about  four  and  a  half  hours.  There  we  crossed  the  Eu- 
phrates in  a  meshkuf  opposite  el-Khudhr,  where  we  slept  in 
the  muthif.    A  very  disagreeable  night,  cold,  wet,  and  hungry. 

Thursday,  February  19th.  We  left  el-Khudhr  at  7.30  for 
Warka,  about  three  hours  from  the  river.  We  were  accom- 
panied by  the  Vice-Mudir  and  a  dozen  of  his  men.  There 
are  flint  knives  everywhere.     The  elevation   Bouwarieh  is  of 

Bearings  from  Warka  ;  El-Jid,  22  3^^'  ;  Senkereh,  100°  to  104  y^^  ; 
Hammam  ?,  33°  (very  small)  ;  el-Raheye,  83  ^°  ;  Daraje,  say  154°?  ;  El 
Khudhr,  2io.° 


350 


lYim'ji. 


unburned  brick,  with  occasional  layers  of  reed.  Wuswas  is  a 
crater-shaped  elevation  of  bricks  about  a  slight  earthy  depres- 
sion. We  left  Warka  without  our  escort,  and  crossed  the  Eu- 
phrates at  another  place  by  boat,  returning  the  same  night 
to  Samawa.  It  was  very  late  and  the  gates  were  closed,  and 
we  could  not  get  them  open,  but  our  zaptieh  led  us  along  to  a 
place  where  the  wall  was  low  and  insecure,  and  there  he  kicked 
away  the  mud,  and  we  thus  broke  our  way  into  the  city  and  to 
our  tent. 

Friday,  February  20th.  We  left  Samawa  at  10.47,  g^ii^g 
along  the  east  side  of  the  river.  At  12.30  we  struck  a  ferry 
across  the  Shatt-el-Behar,  which  seems  more  a  lake  than  a 
canal,  being  long  and  wide.  It  took  us  not  less  than  two 
hours  to  cross.  At  six  o'clock  we  came  to  a  Turkish  garrison 
at  Hurumati,  on  the  Euphrates,  where  there  were  probably 
fifty  soldiers.  We  passed  by  and  at  7  o'clock  reached  the 
comfortable  village  of  Sheikh  Ferhud,  where  we  were  very 
handsomely  treated,  and  entertained  in  the  finest  reed  mat 
muthif  we  have  yet  seen. 

Saturday,  February  21st.  We  left  Ferhud  at  7.05.  As  we 
were  on  horseback,  ready  to  start,  Sheikh  Ferhud  and  his 
Avife  brought  us  their  only  child,  about  a  year  old,  emaciated, 
flea-bitten,  and  evidently  sick,  and  told  me  (they  had  proba- 
bly heard  me  called  "  Doctor  "  )  that  all  their  other  children 
had  died,  and  that  they  wanted  me  to  give  this  child  some 
medicine  so  that  it  should  not  die.  Sheikh  Ferhud  had  been 
so  kind  that  I  could  not  disappoint  them,  so  I  made  a  harm- 
less preparation  and  gave  it.  Then  he  wanted  me  to  spit  on 
the  child,  apparently  to  avert  the  evil  eye.  We  rode  along 
the  east  side  of  the  river  all  day,  but  there  was  nothing  of' 
interest  and  no  tels.  The  land  was  all  uncultivated,  but 
amazingly  rich.  We  reached  Diwanieh  about  sunset,  cross- 
ing the  bridge  of  boats,  and  went  to  a  khan. 

Monday,  February  23d.  We  left  at  7.05  and  made  eight 
hours  to  Jasm,  a  small  village  with  a  considerable  ziaret,  and 
a  few  Ma'dan  Arabs.  Our  men  had  better  quarters  than  we, 
as  they  were  supposed  to  be  good  Moslems.  But  we,  undis- 
guised  Christians,   were    comfortable    enough.     The  country 


APPENDIX  F.  351 

to-day  has  all  been  uncultivated  and  barren,  and  yet  this  is 
the  site  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and  is  of  unsurpassed  fertility, 
and  would  be  teeming  with  population  if  there  were  a  good 
government.     What  a  region  for  colonization  ! 

Tuesday,  February  24th.  Rode  five  hours  into  Hillah,  and 
to  our  old  khan.  We  passed  thousands  of  palm-trees  the  last 
two  hours.  Noorian  went  with  the  soldier.  Abbas,  to  explain 
his  long  absence,  but  he  did  not  see  the  officer  in  command. 
Our  old  friends,  the  merchants,  came  to  see  us  and  bring 
tablets,  etc.,  for  sale. 

Wednesday,  February  25th.  Abbas's  wife  came  to  us  and  re- 
ported that  he  had  been  put  in  prison  for  his  desertion. 
Noorian  went  and  threatened  and  scolded  the  men,  but  the 
officer  was  in  bed  still.  He  went  again  about  noon,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  having  i\bbas  released,  with  a  proper  apology  to  us. 
Abbas  came  to  see  us,  radiantly  grateful.  Toward  night,  Dr. 
Sterrett,  to  whom  we  had  telegraphed  from  Diwanieh,  made 
his  appearance,  his  health  completely  recovered,  thanks  to  the 
excellent  attention  of  Dr.  Bowman,  the  British  Residency  sur- 
geon, and  was  warmly  welcomed. 

Thursday,  February  26th.  Remained  in  Hillah,  purchasing 
tablets,  etc.,  and  sent  a  load  ahead  to  Mahmudieh. 

Friday,  February  27th.  Although  the  day  was  rainy  and 
windy,  we  left  in  the  middle  of  the  forenoon  and  started  for 
Kerbela.  We  travelled  by  way  of  Mahawil,  and  thence  up 
the  river  to  Museyib,  where  is  a  bridge,  and  where  we  rested 
in  a  khan. 

Saturday,  February  2Sth.  A  ride  of  nearly  six  hours  took  us 
to  Kerbela,  where  we  went  to  the  new  Khan  Spellal. 

Sunday,  March  ist.  The  servants.  Christians  and  all,  went 
to  the  great  mosque,  under  the  guise  of  being  Moslems.  I 
walked  about  the  city,  saw  the  Mosque  of  Husein,  with  its 
gilded  dome  and  minarets,  and  also  that  of  Abbas.  Kerbela 
is  surrounded  by  miles  of  gardens  and  palms.  Plums  and 
quinces  are  in  bloom.  There  are  flowers  by  the  roadside,  one 
perhaps  a  geranium,  and  one  like  a  rayless  Maruta  cotula. 
From  this  time  I  took  pains  to  collect  and  press  every  plant 
that  came  into  bloom,  but  when  on  reaching  Homs,  near  the 


352  NIPPUR. 

end  of  the  journey  I  put  the  papers  out  to  dry  on  the  roof  of 
the  khan,  every  one  of  them  was  stolen  and  my  whole  collec- 
tion lost. 

Monday,  March  2d.  We  left  Kerbela,  returning  to  Museyib, 
where  we  crossed  the  Euphrates  on  a  bridge.  That  night  we 
slept  in  the  Khan  el-Qadm,  built  as  an  act  of  piety  for  the 
comfort  of  pilgrims. 

Tuesday,  March  3d.  While  the  caravan  went  its  way  to 
Baghdad,  Noorian,  a  zaptieh,  and  myself  started  at  8.30  for 
Tel  Ibrahim,  the  ancient  Cutha.  We  could  get  no  guide  and 
I  directed  the  course  by  compass.  We  reached  Tel  Ibrahim 
at  2.00  P.M.,  and  spent  an  hour  there.  I  took  no  bearings, 
having  no  guide,  and  our  zaptieth  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the 
region.  The  hill  was  not  visible  until  we  came  within  two 
hours  of  it,  being  concealed  by  mounds  and  sand  hills,  and 
being  low.  We  could  see  it  from  the  hills  only.  It  is  shaped 
like  an  amphitheatre,  the  open  side  being  occupied  by  two 
hills,  one  of  them  with  a  ziggurat.  Perhaps  a  river  or  a  canal 
ran  along  the  wider  edge.  I  looked  carefully  to  see  what 
excavations  had  been  made.  Of  the  dozen  places  that  showed 
signs  of  digging,  none  were  of  importance,  and  none  had  ap- 
parently been  successful  in  finding  any  constructions.  In  one 
place  a  brick  wall  was  found  below  the  general  level  of  the 
digging,  but  it  was  not  followed  far  enough  to  show  what  it 
was,  I  saw  some  more  brick  work  not  excavated.  The  hill, 
where  opened,  seemed  to  be  of  sun-dried  bricks.  In  one 
place  a  tunnel  had  been  dug  in  for  some  twenty  feet,  and  at 
the  end  a  cross  tunnel  appeared  to  run  at  right  angles  to  it ; 
but  as  there  was  a  part  of  a  fresh  carcass  of  a  lamb  by  the 
entrance,  and  there  were  tracks  of  animals  about,  and  the 
zaptieh  said  "arslan,"  lion,  I  did  not  venture  quite  as  far  as 
the  cross  tunnel,  fearing  to  meet  a  hyena,  or  possibly  lions. 
The  tel  is  large,  and  substantially  unexplored  ;  at  least  the 
slight  excavations  have  afforded  no  clue  to  the  system  of  con- 
struction. It  is  very  much  washed  by  rain  and  gullied,  is  low, 
and  shows  no  sign  of  any  ziggurat.  I  suppose  that  it  should 
be  dug  into  at  a  lower  level,  both  in  the  hills  and  at  their  foot. 
A  broad,  deep  well   has  tempted  and  occupied  most  of  the 


APPENDIX  F.  353 

labor,  but  I  do  not  believe  anything  was  found  in  the  well. 
No  flint  was  seen,  and  comparatively  few  signs  of  graves,  ex- 
cept blue  pottery,  but  it  was  not  an  ancient  cemetery.  We 
struck  back,  still  by  compass,  across  the  dry  Jezireh,  with  no 
water  and  few  plants,  for  Khan  Iskanderieh.  Leaving  Ibra- 
him at  3.00,  we  reached  Iskanderieh  at  6.50,  where  the  loads 
with  Sterrett  and  Haynes  had  preceded  us.  This  is  the  most 
enormous  khan  we  have  seen,  a  triple  one,  and  we  have  a 
magnificent  room  over  a  gate,  where  we  put  up  our  four  beds 
four  feet  apart,  and  have  plenty  of  room. 

Wednesday,  March  4th.  Left  Khan  Iskanderieh  at  8.10. 
While  the  caravan  went  to  Mahmudieh,  Sterrett,  Noorian,  a 
soldier,  and  myself  went  by  another  route  to  visit  Abu  Habba. 
We  reached  Tel  Kubr  Faras  ("  horse  grave  "),  an  uninteresting 
mound,  at  11-30.  At  10.40,  we  passed  Tel  Hushm-edh-Dhib 
("angry  wolf  "),  and  at  10.55  another  tel,  a  mile  to  the  right, 
said  to  have  the  same  name.  At  11. 10  we  passed  a  small  tel, 
Jowab  Hababi. 

I  spent  two  hours  walking  nearly  all  about  the  walls  of 
Abu  Habba,  and  over  the  ruins.  I  find  it  difficult  to  get  a 
clear  idea  of  the  shape.  It  consists  of  a  walled  enclosure,  of 
which  the  ruins  occupy  the  middle  third,  more  or  less,  while 
the  other  portions  are  unoccupied.  I  walked  along  the  whole 
of  the  north,  east,  and  south  walls.  I  judge  the  width  along  the 
north  wall  to  be  about  seven  hundred  yards.  I  find  that  the 
excavations  are  chiefly  about  the  southwest  corner,  and  large 
spaces  are  yet  undug.  The  same  evening  we  reached  Mahmu- 
dieh, and  joined  the  rest  of  the  party. 

Thursday,  March  5th.  Noorian  and  I  started  early,  in  ad- 
vance of  the  rest  of  the  party,  and  in  two  hours  reached 
Baghdad,  in  order  to  secure  quarters. 

Wednesday,  March  nth.  After  a  fortnight  spent  in  Baghdad 
preparing  for  departure,  we  left  the  city  at  about  11.00  a.  m., 
for  'Akerkuf.  We  had  asked  Consul  Plowden  to  secure  us  a 
zaptieh,  and  he  had  sent  his  dragoman,  but  when  we  were 
ready  to  start  no  zaptieh  had  appeared.  I  left  word  for  the 
zaptieh  to  follow  us  to  'Akerkuf.  On  our  way  out  several 
officers  who   seemed   to  be  in  waiting  for  us  demanded  our 

VOL.  I.— 23 


354  NIPPUR. 

teskereh,  which,  after  some  delay,  we  showed  on  the  bridge. 
We  went  on  without  a  guide,  and  in  three  hours  reached  an 
encampment  of  Arabs,  Beni  Temim,  near  'Akerkuf,  and  put 
up  our  tent. 

Thursday,  March  19th.  We  had  breakfast  soon  after  sunrise, 
and  then  Sterrett,  Haynes,  and  I  walked  over  a  mile  to 
'Akerkuf.  There  had  been  a  hard  frost,  and  we  waded 
through  herbage  and  barley,  which  had  grown  wonderfully, 
and  with  no  signs  of  irrigation.  The  dock,  melilotus,  mal- 
lows, and  geraniums  were  up  to  our  knees,  then  to  our  middle, 
and  we  got  thoroughly  wet.  The  barley  was  up  to  our  belts. 
'Akerkuf  looks  70  to  100  feet  high.  The  top  is  quite  inacces- 
sible on  all  sides.  On  the  top  are  nests  of  birds.  On  the 
northwest  side  is  a  deep  recess  half-way  up,  like  an  arched 
window.  On  the  north  corner  is  a  projection  like  a  very  steep 
flight  of  stairs.  The  ordinary  small  holes  pass  through  the 
construction,  and  there  are  the  layers  of  reeds,  that  seem 
characteristic  of  late  work,  to  every  six  to  nine  layers  of 
bricks.  No  burnt  brick  is  visible.  It  might  be  well  to  visit 
the  top  and  recess.  There  are  some  small  remains  and  ruins 
to  the  southeast,  with  two  little  excavations.  The  city  could 
not  have  amounted  to  much.  On  our  way  to  '  Akerkuf  yester- 
day we  saw  a  lion,  not  three  hours  from  Baghdad,  but  too  far 
off  for  a  shot  to  reach  it,  as  it  trotted  off  slowly.  Two  holes 
in  the  bottom  of  the  ruin  of  'Akerkuf  are  the  lairs  of  wild 
beasts,  and  we  saw  their  tracks  and  quantities  of  bones  about. 

We  left  'Akerkuf  at  10.00,  intending  to  make  a  short  day 
on  account  of  the  animals.  But  there  was  no  place  to  stop 
short  of  Sakhlawieh,  on  the  Euphrates,  which  we  reached  at 
6.30.  We  passed  a  "  station,"  with  a  little  tent,  and  a  dozen 
zaptiehs.  Probably  their  regular  quarters  were  at  a  square 
^enclosure,  khan,  or  mud  fort,  a  mile  or  more  off.  The  land 
^bout  now  began  to  show  signs  of  gravel,  and  gradually  of 
larger  pebbles,  and  finally  a  line  of  hills,  marked  with 
occasional  outcroppings  of  gypsum.  The  plants  were  a  mari- 
gold, Maruta  cotiila,  or  something  like  it ;  two  yellow  may- 
weeds (one  rayless),  some  fleshy  caryophyllaceas,  several 
cruciferae,  and  a  little  weed  like  a  polygonum,  which  covers 


APPEXDIX  F.  355 

large  patches  with  a  close  carpet  of  pink.  We  found  Sakhla- 
wieh  to  be  a  mud  village  and  a  mudirlik. 

Friday,  March  20th.  Walked  over  to  Sefeira.  I  had  been 
very  anxious  to  see  Sefeira,  hoping  that  it  might  preserve  the 
name  of  Sippara.  We  crossed  the  Sakhlawieh  Canal  to  go  to 
Sefeira.  It  winds  about  and  has  a  deep  bed,  but  the  water  is 
shallow.  The  mound  shows  no  signs  of  duality,  such  as  is 
implied  in  the  name  Sepharvaim.  The  canal  is  on  one  side  of 
it.  It  is  not  an  impressive  mound,  low,  250  yards  across,  with 
Arab  graves  and  no  elevations,  many  pebbles,  and  a  little  pot- 
tery and  glass.  It  was  not  worth  photographing.  A  soldier 
rode  up  and  asked  us  our  business. 

In  the  afternoon  Sterrett  and  I  walked  over  to  'Anbar,  which 
we  had  not  found  on  our  modern  maps,  and  which  the  IVIudir 
told  us  was  much  bigger  than  Sefeira,  and  so,  indeed,  we  found 
it.  It  is  three  miles  down  the  river  and  is  a  huge  mound, 
larger  by  much  than  Abu  Habba,  and  may  be  the  Sippara  of 
Anunit.  It  consists  of  a  principal,  or  older  city  entirely 
surrounded  by  high  walls,  thirty  to  fifty  feet  high,  the  city  on 
a  level  with  the  top  of  the  walls.  To  the  east  of  this  city  and 
wall  is  another  city  on  a  lower  level,  separated  from  the  first 
by  what  seems  to  have  been  a  canal  or  moat.  The  wall,  or 
bank,  on  the  east  side  is  not  always  marked,  but  on  the  west 
side  it  is  a  marked  feature.  The  west  city  is  of  irregular 
height  and  construction,  and  there  are  in  it  two  large  courts 
on  a  much  lower  level  than  the  rest,  of  irregular  shape,  and 
surrounded  by  high  walls,  as  if  they  were  the  open  enclosures 
of  great  temples  or  palaces.  Over  a  considerable  portion  the 
ground  is  covered  very  thickly  with  pieces  of  burnt  brick,  also 
considerable  pottery  and  glass.  No  inscribed  bricks  were 
seen  or  reported.  On  a  vertical  side  of  what  looked  like  a  gate 
of  the  old  city,  on  the  east  side,  I  saw  a  floor  of  brick  laid  in 
mortar  above  and  below  it.  The  eastern  city  is  large,  but  on 
a  lower  level.  At  the  eastern  extremity  was  a  space  about  200 
yards  square,  surrounded  by  walls  of  sun-dried  bricks,  and 
with  a  building  projecting  into  the  middle  from  the  western 
side.  A  large  bay  runs  in  at  the  north,  between  the  two 
cities,  almost  surrounded  by  walls.     The  two  cities  can  hardly 


356  NIPPUR. 

be  less  than  a  mile  long.  On  the  south  side  is  an  Arab  vil- 
lage, and  on  the  west  a  ziaret,  but  the  mound  has  not  been 
used  much  for  burials.  The  western  side  seems  to  be  irregular. 
There  were  several  little  outlying  tels  to  the  south  or  south- 
west. The  walls  were  especially  high  on  the  north  side,  and 
on  the  northwest  corner,  and  show,  apparently,  black  ashes, 
etc.,  not  much  slag.  We  were  told  that  brick  was  brought 
from  here  to  Sakhlawieh. 

In  the  afternoon  we  called  on  a  Turkish  doctor.  He  had 
an  odd  lot  of  broken  bottles  and  medicine.  He  invited  us  to 
see  his  old  stones,  chiefly  worn  pebbles.  He  had  one  bead, 
and  said  that  it  was  excellent  to  burn  with  a  preparation  and 
apply  for  diseases  of  the  eye.  He  showed  us  with  great  satis- 
faction his  mouse-eaten  parchment  diploma,  in  a  tin  box.  He 
had  studied  medicine  for  fifteen  years  with  a  doctor,  and 
when  he  was  declared  a  skilled  practitioner  he  received  this 
diploma  signed  with  about  forty  seals  of  government  officials. 

Saturday,  March  21st.  We  crossed  the  Euphrates  at  9.30. 
At  9.48  we  crossed  a  canal,  Nahal  Mahlasieh,  in  a  boat  which 
reached  half-way  across  it.  This  is  a  swift  effluent  of  the 
Euphrates.  The  boat  was  one  of  the  high,  double-prowed  kind. 
A  couple  of  poles  are  stuck  in  the  ground,  one  each  side  of 
the  canal,  and  a  slack  rope  runs  from  one  to  the  other  ;  and 
two  men  pull  the  boat  along  the  rope,  while  the  helmsman 
minds  the  stern  end  of  the  boat.  It  takes  but  half  a  minute  to 
get  a  load  across.  At  10.01  we  were  all  across.  The  road 
goes  along  the  low  alluvium,  just  below  the  bluff,  a  light  loam, 
with  a  thin  vegetation.  At  2.22  we  entered  a  broad  valley,  or 
plain,  and  the  bluffs  receded  or  disappeared.  We  reached 
Ramadieh  at  4.15  and  put  up  at  the  khan.  It  has  a  large 
public  coffee-room,  and  a  number  of  people  stay  here  all  day, 
and  I  hear  them  all  night.  The  custom  is,  I  believe,  to  pay 
for  coffee  and  narghileh  by  the  week.  At  Shatra  the  charge 
was  half  a  Persian  kran  per  week. 

Sunday,  March  22d.  Slightly  rainy,  and  rain  is  much  needed. 
The  frost  has  burned  the  figs,  melilot,  etc.,  farther  south.  We 
called  on  the  Kaimakam,  an  intelligent  man,  who  told  us  of  a 
stone,  perhaps  Hittite,  at  Bazarjik.     He  is  from  Aleppo.     He 


APPENDIX  F.  357 

promised  us  a  zaptieh.  In  front  of  the  coffee-room  there  was 
a  crowd  and  a  fight.  The  man  attacked  was  thrown  down, 
and  cried  out  convulsively  to  Noorian  for  help,  saying  that  he 
would  be  a  Christian  if  Noorian  would  help  him,  that  the 
Christians  have  more  mercy  than  Moslems.  Noorian  had  a 
whip  in  his  hand  and  he  went  to  the  man's  help,  talking  only 
in  Turkish,  as  if  he  were  an  officer,  and  threatening  to  put  the 
man  in  prison  who  made  the  attack,  and  who  was  actually 
trying  to  kill  his  victim  with  a  knife.  And  yet  the  two  were 
brothers-in-law.  The  man  got  up  bleeding,  but  we  did  not 
hear  of  his  becoming  a  Christian. 

Monday,  March  23d.  We  were  compelled  to  remain  here  on 
account  of  the  rain. 

Tuesday,  March  24th.  Left  at  7.25  a.  jm.  The  village  seems 
to  have  about  two  hundred  houses,  and  is  about  a  dozen  years 
old.  We  passed  by  a  young  garden  and  crossed  a  miserable 
bridge  and  canal  full  of  water.  At  8.10  a  narrow  spur  of  hills 
approached  to  within  about  half  a  mile  of  the  river.  The 
general  line  of  hills  is  low  and  two  miles  from  the  river.  At 
10.10  crossed  a  spur  of  hills.  The  last  half,  or  more,  of  the 
road  the  foot-hills  were  close  to  the  river,  but  very  low.  We 
reached  Hit  at  4  p.  m.  Found  a  half-ruined  khan  of  charity, 
but  put  up  our  tent.  Went  immediately  with  Sterrett  to  see 
some  furnaces  of  bitumen  which  we  passed  just  before  enter- 
ing the  town.  The  town  is  built  on  a  hill,  and  of  houses  with 
good  walls.  The  furnaces  are  used  to  melt  the  bitumen  to 
pitch  the  boats  in  the  shipyard.  The  boats  are  oblong,  with 
square  vertical  ends  and  sides,  or  slightly  inclined  inward  ; 
thirty  feet  long,  or  more,  and  five  feet  high.  There  were  also 
some  of  the  small  tub-shaped  coracles.  These  large  boats 
are  made  by  first  tying  together  a  flat  bottom  of  grass  or  straw, 
which  is  covered  with  bitumen.  This  is  then  tied  with  bulrush 
strings  to  the  bottom  of  the  framework  of  the  boat.  The 
framework  of  the  boat  is  made  of  small  branches,  or  roots,  two 
inches  thick,  at  the  biggest,  which  are  tied  together  at  the 
ends  with  these  strings,  and  the  side  pieces,  the  ribs  of  the 
boat,  fastened  to  the  bottom  pieces  by  being  set  in  tenons,  as 
well  as  with  strings  and  pitch.     The  joints   are  caulked  with 


358  NIPPUR. 

pitch.  Then  a  layer  of  thick  grass  carpet  is  tied  on  outside, 
and  this  pitched  all  over  on  the  outside,  and  rolled  on.  The 
hot  pitch  is  prepared  in  furnaces  close  by.  The  furnace  has 
three  basins  in  which  the  pitch  is  melted  and  mixed  with 
sand.  A  flue  runs  under  the  basins  and  has  a  chimney  about 
two  feet  high.  The  fuel  is  plastic  pitch,  floating  in  water. 
Balls  of  it  are  picked  up,  torn  apart  with  the  hand,  like 
molasses  candy,  and  thrown  into  the  fire,  the  water  prevent- 
ing it  from  sticking  to  the  hand.  The  cords  used  to  tie  the 
parts  of  the  boat,  the  sticks,  and  the  grass,  or  reed  stuff,  to- 
gether are  very  small,  like  twine,  but  the  bulrush  is  very 
tough.  After  the  frame  of  the  boat  is  up  they  put  across  it 
the  frame  of  a  deck,  and  work  on  a  gunwale,  tied  and  pitched 
on.  Everything  is  very  primitive,  a  regular  ark-yard.  A  boat 
costs  five  liras,  very  cheap.  They  are  real  arks,  much  like  a 
canal  boat,  and  are  used  only  to  float  on  the  stream.  Two 
full  layers  of  bitumen  are  put  on  the  outside,  one  full  layer  on 
the  inside. 

We  met  many  flowers  to-day,  iris,  a  poppy-like  red  flower, 
a  leguminous  flower  with  bladder  pods  and  spines;  no  blue 
flowers. 

Wednesday,  March  25th.  We  saw  the  workmen  bring  the 
bitumen  from  the  springs  in  wet,  sanded  baskets,  on  the  backs 
of  donkeys.  As  we  left  Hit,  Noorian,  the  zaptieh,  and  I 
galloped  off  the  road  ten  minutes  to  the  left,  to  see  the  bitu- 
men springs.  We  crossed  a  clear,  salt  stream,  and  followed  it 
up  to  a  little  hill.  In  that  hill,  among  the  foot-hills,  were  two 
principal  springs  where  the  bitumen  is  obtained.  One  was  a 
fountain  of  warm,  salt  water,  with  bitumen  rising  to  the  top 
and  floating  in  considerable  masses,  but  not  very  abundantly. 
This  spring  was  less  than  twenty  feet  across.  The  other  was 
in  a  depression  a  few  yards  away,  and  was  a  spring  of  cold 
water,  boiling  up  a  foot  or  so,  apparently  from  the  escape  of  gas, 
and  I  was  warned  that  the  air  here  was  bad.  This  was  said  to 
produce  the  best  bitumen.  It  is  thick,  stiff,  moulded  by  the 
fingers,  and  carried  in  baskets.  The  amount  seems  small  for 
the  chief  industry  of  the  town.  The  water  was  very  salt  ;  and 
where  the  current  was  slow,  and  the  stream  wide,  a   flake  of 


APPEXDIX  F.  359 

salty  matter  formed  and  floated  on  it.  The  salt  stream  seemed 
quite  salt  and  pure. 

We  left  Hit  at  8.30.  At  9.45  we  crossed  a  rather  copious 
stream  of  salt  water.  The  road  followed  for  some  hours  a 
fringe  of  cultivated  fields,  and  then  passed  over  the  low  line 
of  gypsum  hills  which  came  close  to  the  river.  Occasionally 
there  was  a  narrow  line  of  vegetation.  Reached  the  island  of 
Jibbah  at  4.40.  There  was  a  great  flood  more  than  forty 
years  ago,  lasting  but  one  day,  which  swept  all  the  houses  off 
the  island,  and  extended  over  the  lower  shelf  of  the  foot-hills. 
An  old  man  remembered  it.  The  island  is  surrounded  by  a 
wall.  The  rock  here  shows  bivalve  shells.  We  encamped  by 
the  miserable  khan  opposite  Jibbah  and  sent  to  the  island  for 
provisions,  which  made  supper  very  late.  Jibbah  is  the  seat 
of  a  Mudir. 

Thursday,  March  26th.  Another  beautiful  day.  We  left  at 
8.05,  going  back  from  the  river  to  escape  a  big  bend.  The 
rocks  and  bridges  are  black  with  small  grasshoppers,  which 
we  have  observed  for  two  days.  At  10.30  we  reached  the 
river  again.  We  observed  inhabited  caves.  We  left  the  river 
at  11.30  by  a  beautiful  little  island  called  Alus,  and  a  little 
ruined  castle.  At  2.35  we  reached  Haditha  and  put  up  at  a 
comfortable  khan  opposite  the  island.  I  walked  up  on  the 
hill  and  found  caves  in  the  soft  limestone,  and  the  hill  honey- 
combed with  rude  old  graves,  in  lines  or  rows,  at  all  angles. 

Friday,  j\Iarch  27th.  In  the  morning  I  hired  one  of  the 
boats  to  cross  to  the  island  with  Noorian.  It  was  a  square- 
prowed  boat,  with  two  rude  oars.  Just  as  we  crossed,  the 
morning  ferry-boat  was  coming  from  the  island.  It  was  a 
pointed,  high-prowed  boat,  and  was  crowded  full  of  people, 
and  low  in  the  water,  and  was  guided  with  skill  through  the 
swift  current.  Our  boat  was  drawn  far  up  the  stream  be- 
fore starting.  A  woman  pushed  with  an  oar,  while  a  man 
pulled.  There  is  a  wall  nearly  around  the  island,  which  is 
wholly  occupied  by  houses,  with  very  small  plots  of  ground 
high-walled.  The  houses  do  not  have  the  back  protected 
against  floods,  but  we  often  saw  doors  opening  up-stream, 
Tue  town  has  four  mosques  ;  we  visited  three  of  them,  one  a 


360  KIP  PUR. 

mere  rude  room,  the  other  two  with  steps  for  the  reader,  and 
some  architectural  pretensions  inside.  That  at  the  south  end 
is  long  and  very  narrow,  with  heavy  arches.  It  formerly  had 
a  minaret,  and  we  saw  its  foundations,  but  we  were  told  that 
it  had  fallen  perhaps  a  hundred  years  before.  The  most  in- 
teresting sight  was  a  grist-mill.  We  saw  women  spinning,  and 
people  fluffing  up  cotton  with  a  bow-string.  The  island  looks 
beautiful  and  cheerful.  It  has  no  school,  but  a  mollah  teaches 
the  boys  to  read.  No  grasshoppers,  such  as  we  saw  yesterday 
and  day  before,  inaking  the  ground  black,  but  very  small  ones 
which  gather  on  rocks  and  promontories,  when  it  is  the  least 
bit  cool.  I  am  told  that  each  water-wheel  pays  12  okes  of 
grain  yearly  for  the  support  of  the  ferry. 

We  left  Haditha  at  9.00,  half  an  hour  after  the  packs,  and 
followed  the  river  all  the  way,  mostly  on  the  lower  shelf. 
Near  Haditha  the  alluvial  valley  was  towards  a  mile  wide,  and 
there  were  water-wheels,  sometimes  four  to  one  aqueduct, 
oftener  two  or  three.  It  was  an  easy  road.  Reached  Fehe- 
miah  at  1.30.  It  is  a  mere  soldier's  station,  or  khan,  a  square 
enclosure,  but  so  dirty  that  we  set  up  our  tent  outside.  A 
long,  low,  uncultivated  island  lies  near  the  shore.  No  bar- 
ley was  to  be  had  here,  and  we  had  brought  barley  with  us  ; 
but  a  family  was  living  in  the  khan,  and  we  got  milk  and 
yaort.  Again  we  heard  of  the  great  flood  of  forty  or  fifty 
years  ago.  The  w^ater  rises  generally  only  some  five  or  six 
feet  higher  than  at  present,  and  does  not  reach  the  level  of  the 
alluvial  plain  ;  but  in  that  high-water  year  it  rose  all  over  the 
alluvial  plain,  up  to  the  first  shelf  of  the  rocks.  The  people 
from  the  island  below,  which  we  are  told  has  400  houses,  had 
to  encamp  on  the  hill,  watching  against  their  foes,  the  Anazeh 
Arabs,  and  they  had  only  black,  unground  grain  to  eat.  The 
flood  lasted  only  one  day  and  then  retired,  but  it  ruined 
the  houses  on  the  island.  We  saw  ruins  said  to  date  from 
that  flood.  Our  road  to-day  has  been  easy,  for  an  hour  or  so 
in  the  bottom,  then  over  white  stone  and  earth  with  scanty 
herbage,  irises  and  fringed  hyacinths,  and  yellow  and  white 
tansy  and  other  composites,  including  Maruta  cotula,  also 
catch-fly.     I    found    forget-me-not,   a    fumariaceous  plant,  a 


APPENDIX  F.  361 

■\voody  asparagus,  yellow  star  grass,  matrimony  vine  {Lycium 
barbarum),  poppies,  marigolds,  yellow  daisies,  yellow  achillea, 
and  plants  like  Lithospermum  and  Spergula. 

Saturday,  March  28th.  After  an  uncomfortable  night  in 
the  rain,  we  started  at  9.25,  after  a  full  hour's  detention 
caused  by  the  vicious  grizzly  mule  going  out  of  the  track  in 
crossing  the  water,  stumbling  in  the  v»ater,  and  losing  his  load 
of  photographic  and  archaeological  boxes  in  the  water. 
The  men  got  horribly  muddy,  and  the  boxes  covered  with 
mud,  we  hope  not  wet  inside.  The  rock  is  limestone,  un- 
derlaid by  a  pebbly  conglomerate.  Uninteresting  flowers, 
— no  violets,  anemones,  roses,  columbines,  but  humble 
pinks.  At  1.50  we  reached  the  first  palm-trees  and  gardens 
of  'Anah,  and  arrived  at  the  serai  at  3.00,  but  there  were  so 
many  soldiers  that  we  pitched  our  tents  just  beyond  under 
some  palm-trees,  but  with  no  shelter  for  the  men  from  the 
threatening  weather.  Apparently  the  people  are  suffering 
from  oppression  and  are  cowed.  The  women  appeared  with 
uncovered  faces.  We  broke  down  a  piece  of  the  mud  wall  to 
make  room  to  pitch  our  single  tent.  A  crowd  of  soldiers 
came  to  see  and  help.  We  received  a  call  from  the  Kaima- 
kam,  a  decent  and  honest-looking  man.  We  tried  to  return 
it,  but  found  that  he  had  gone  with  soldiers  and  people  to  kill 
locusts.     They  drive  them  into  ditches  and  cover  them  over. 

Sunday,  March  29th.  Remained  in  camp  and  visited  the 
town.  There  is  a  series  of  islands  in  the  stream,  a  long  one 
to  the  south,  with  ruins  of  houses,  and  a  mosque  with  a  curious 
series  of  windows  in  the  minaret,  which  looks  more  like  a 
tower.  There  is  what  looks  like  the  remains  of  a  bridge  in 
the  river,  this  side  of  the  island,  but  it  is  probably  the  remains 
of  an  aqueduct,  with  a  long  series  of  water-wheels.  It  was  a 
great  work.  The  great  flood  destroyed  the  houses  on  the 
island.  There  are  eight  islands  and  many  people  live  there. 
The  flood  is  said  to  have  destroyed  also  the  houses  on  the 
river  side  of  the  main  street  of  the  town,  but  not  on  the  desert 
side.  It  lasted  one  day.  There  are  at  'Anah  a  thousand  houses 
and  from  300  to  400  soldiers,  more  than  there  used  to  be. 
We  saw  one  boat  painted  white.     There  are  very  few  shops  at 


362  NIPPUR. 

the  northern  end  of  the  long  single  street.  There  are  said  to 
be  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  houses  of  Jews  on  the  island. 
They  are  silversmiths,  and  have  no  shops,  but  sell  things  in 
their  houses.     They  have  two  synagogues. 

The  great  business  of  'Anah  is  making  cloth  for  abbas. 
There  are  said  to  be  four  thousand  made  in  a  year,  worth 
from  a  lira  down  to  twenty  piastres.  All  the  men  use  the 
spindle,  and  work  everywhere  in  the  street.  I  bought  a  spin- 
dle of  a  man  for  twenty  paras.  The  women  use  the  wheel 
for  cotton,  buying  the  thread  at  Baghdad.  We  visited  two 
factories,  where  the  heavy  looms  were  set  out  under  the  palm- 
trees.  One  had  five  and  the  other  two  looms.  They  use  four 
shuttles  to  get  one  even  color  with  the  red-brown  wool.  They 
put  in  strips  of  white.  The  cloth  is  very  strong.  The  weav- 
ing was  done  by  women.  One  wore  a  wooden  thimble  with  a 
wooden  point  to  put  the  thread  back  so  that  it  would  not  draw. 
We  also  visited  a  grist-mill,  which  has  two  wheels  for  grinding 
grain,  and  two  for  irrigation.  There  are  nine  millstones  in 
the  island,  made  of  the  black  vesicular  tufa,  so  commonly  used 
for  the  smaller  stones,  of  pieces  ironed  and  bound  together 
with  skill.  The  water-wheels  are  of  about  fifteen  feet  radius, 
and  the  mill  wheels  of  about  nine  feet.  The  spokes  of  the 
irrigation  wheels  have  to  be  joined  with  wooden  pins.  On 
the  wheels  are  floats  of  palm-leaf  stems.  The  aqueducts  are 
beautifully  covered  with  small  ferns  (Adiantum,  if  I  remem- 
ber, the  specimens  being  lost  at  Homs),  the  first  of  any  sort 
we  had  seen  for  months.  The  soldiers  here  seem  to  do  some 
valuable  service,  and  they  report  the  native  Arabs  to  be 
"bad,"  which  I  doubt,  as  they  seemed  diligent  and  quiet. 
The  people  do  not  know  about  burning  locusts.  They  go 
out  on  the  hills  to  drive  them  when  small  into  deep  ditches, 
and  bury  them.  Otherwise  they  would,  when  larger,  destroy 
palms  and  everything  else,  I  saw  a  man  knitting  a  stocking 
with  hooked  needles.  No  antiquities  were  offered  for  sale, 
and  none  said  to  be  found,  A  whole  sheep,  without  the  fat 
tail,  pot-roasted  in  a  huge  copper  pot,  furnished  our  servants 
and  ourselves  with  an  unusual  and  welcome  Sunday  feast. 

Monday,  March   30th,     A   beautiful,   cool  morning.     Left 


APPENDIX  F.  363 

camp  at  7.56,  attended  by  a  gray-haired  zaptieh,  carrying  food 
and  barley  for  the  camp  to-night  at  Nahia.  The  long  street 
goes  up  over  aqueducts,  past  flourishing  olive-trees.  Saw  two 
kinds  of  unfamiliar  pink  flowers  on  the  rocks  above  the  town. 
Good  red-oak  wood  is  brought  from  ed-Dhor,  two  or  three 
days  distant.  The  low,  beautiful  iris  breaks  into  bloom  al- 
most exactly  at  noon.  Reached  the  gate  of  'Anah  at  8.30, 
with  steep  limestone  cliffs  on  the  left,  and  walled  gardens  on 
the  right.  Near  by  was  a  cave  for  sheep.  At  8.40  passed  a 
large  station  on  the  hill  across  the  river,  built  twenty  years 
ago  and  never  used.  At  8.41,  end  of  the  valley,  garden,  and 
trees.  A  finely  built  square  castle,  or  station,  on  the  inner 
bend  of  the  river.  Turkish  garrison.  At  9.00,  village  of  Rawa 
across  the  river.  Reached  the  khan,  or  station,  Nahia  at  3.05. 
It  is  a  comfortable  place  with  three  passable  rooms  over  the 
gate.  A  man  swept  two  of  these  out  with  a  whisk  of  brush 
wood,  and  I  swept  one  after  him  with  the  broom,  then  made 
my  bed  and  went  after  plants  and  seeds. 

Tuesday,  March  31st.  Left  Nahia  at  7.13.  Reached  el- 
Kaim  at  2.50,  On  arriving  at  the  station,  I  went  to  see  the 
ruin.  It  is  from  this  that  they  call  it  el-Kaim  ("the  stand- 
ing ").  It  is  a  hill  formed  by  a  shelf  of  harder  rock  making  a 
butte.  On  one  of  the  summits,  separated  by  gullies,  is  a 
standing  ruin  of  a  tower,  forty  feet  high,  and  nearly  ten  feet 
by  eighteen  at  the  base.  A  flight  of  steps  wound  around  it 
for  two  thirds  of  the  height,  where  it  is  divided,  probably  by 
the  falling  of  what  was  an  arch,  into  two  walls.  Some  eight 
feet  above  the  base  a  sarcophagus  is  worked  into  the  coarse 
mortar  rubble.  It  is  four  feet  high  and  two  wide,  open  at  the 
end.  People  have  dug  about  it  for  treasure.  The  wall  on  the 
northeast  side  has  on  the  face  projecting  half  columns.  The 
winding  stairs  make  the  bottom  larger.  There  is  no  pottery 
or  sign  of  other  antiquities  on  the  hills.  As  I  turned  around 
the  hill  I  saw  a  man  on  horseback  on  the  west  hill.  He  was 
not  a  robber,  but  a  soldier  sent  to  see  that  I  was  safe.  It 
was  cloudy  all  day,  with  occasional  sprinkles  threatening  rain. 
El-Kaim  is  a  mere  station  ;  a  khan  and  a  house  or  two  for  the 
Mudir, — no  tents,  no  milk. 


364  NIPPUR. 

Wednesday,  April  ist.  Left  el-Kaim  at  8.20.  At  9.30 
reached  the  great  ruins  of  Sheikh  Jaber,  or  Jabrieh.  In  the 
distance  Jabrieh  looked  like  seven  artificial  hills  or  buildings, 
in  a  row,  two  or  three  entirely  broken  down.  As  Sterrett 
and  I  rode  up  we  found  them  to  be  parts  of  a  long  wall  of  a 
city.  They  were  most  remarkable,  as  being  the  first  I  had 
seen  of  old  brick  walls  standing  partly  upright.  I  rode 
around  the  walls,  while  Sterrett  took  a  rude  measurement  of 
the  length.  The  wall  on  the  river  side  is  hardly  distinguisha- 
ble, except  as  it  joins  with  the  corner  hill.  The  wall  is  high- 
est on  the  desert  side,  and  there  the  bricks  remain  in  part  in 
perpendicular  position.  The  bricks  are  very  large,  thirteen 
inches  square  and  six  thick.  There  is  on  the  northwest  end  a 
second  wall,  and  at  the  corner  a  large  tel,  forty  feet  high  or 
more,  and  150  yards  square,  partly  covered  with  Arab 
graves,  covered  with  stone,  partly  alabaster,  and  some  bricks, 
and  a  stick  at  each  end  of  the  graves,  so  that  from  a  distance 
it  looks  like  a  military  fortress.  The  top  is  gullied  and  shows 
some  slight  traces  of  walls,  perhaps  not  very  ancient,  made  of 
stone  masonry.  Within  the  walls  were  remains  of  buildings, 
but  very  little  pottery.  Outside  the  wall,  towards  the  desert, 
was  a  moat,  and  a  low  wall  outside  of  it.  Below  the  tel  was  a 
ruined  building  of  brick  masonry.  Great  masses  were  broken 
down,  ten  feet  high.  In  the  river  wall  was  a  gate  with  the  ala- 
baster stones  yet  in  position.  These  stones  do  not  rise  more 
than  a  foot  high. 

The  caravan  had  gone  on,  and  Sterrett,  Noorian,  and  I  fol- 
lowed, reaching  Abu-Kemal  about  two  o'clock.  The  ride 
to-day  was  most  interesting.  The  forage  is  better,  the  valley 
wider,  not  much  cultivated,  but  near  Abu-Kemal  are  good 
fields.  The  bushes  are  larger  and  more  abundant,  almost  like 
trees,  with  great  trunks  and  abundant  branches,  making  a 
clump  of  matrimony  vine  or  tamarisk.  The  soil  often  seems 
to  hold  water  well,  and  the  trees  form  big  hillocks  about 
them,  sometimes  making  real  hills  ten  feet  high,  as  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Wadi  Ali.  Our  zaptieh  was  deaf  and  stupid,  and 
we  were  separated  from  him  most  of  the  day,  and  learned 
little  of  the  wadis.     The  valley  has  widened  out  as  we  trav- 


APPENDIX  F.  365 

elled,  and  Jabrieh  may  have  commanded  a  considerable  extent 
of  country,  probably  reaching  into  the  interior  on  the  Syrian 
side.  To-day  we  saw  a  tribe  of  nomads  on  their  travels, 
with  separate  flocks  of  lambs,  kids,  sheep,  camels,  donkeys, 
cows,  and  bulls,  all  loaded  with  tent  stuff,  matting,  tent  cov- 
ers, poles,  a  donkey  with  a  mill  and  stones,  a  woman  carrying 
a  young  donkey  with  its  head  sticking  out  of  a  bag,  a  man 
balancing  a  sheep  on  a  donkey,  men  carrying  bare-legged  and 
bare-bodied  children  before  them  on  the  saddle.  There  were 
few  horses,  and  women  drove  the  donkeys.  They  stopped 
us  and  offered  yaort  to  drink,  and  asked  us  for  tobacco.  At 
what  I  took  for  Wadi  Ali  was  a  square  masonry  building  one 
eighth  of  a  mile  off,  near  the  river,  with  sides  inclined,  but- 
tress fashion,  a  ruin  of  some  kind.  The  name  of  this  is  Su- 
weih.  Across  the  river,  until  the  last  half  hour,  has  run  a 
steep  ledge,  a  high  square  declivity,  certainly  all  the  way  from 
Jabrieh,  and  a  stretch  of  small  trees,  close  together,  like  wil- 
lows. The  barley  grows  very  strong,  and  I  pulled  up  from 
the  thick-growing  grain  one  stool,  produced  by  one  grain, 
with  eighteen  stems  that  would  produce  heads,  besides  smaller 
ones.  A  sheikh  in  southern  Babylonia  told  me  "  One  grain 
produces  a  hundredfold." 

Left  Kemal  at  8.55.  Reached  Tel  Asheir  at  9.57.  Bricks 
a  foot  square,  thin,  no  writing  ;  also  broken  bricks  marked 
with  cross  lines.  Asheir  is  scarcely  a  tel,  it  is  so  low.  The 
Arabs  have  dug  stones  from  it  for  their  raising  of  water 
near  by.  There  is  a  set  of  rooms,  with  two  semi-circular  pro- 
jections in  the  front  wall,  looking  like  the  foundations  of  a 
Byzantine  church.  A  portion  of  another  room  and  walls  has 
been  dug  out  nearer  the  river. 

Left  Asheir  at  10.00,  and  at  10.30  reached  Tel  Harire.  On  a 
grave  was  a  stone  of  black  basalt,  with  a  piece  of  the  face  pol- 
ished, and  ten  inches  of  an  ornamental  feather  pattern,  fine 
cut,  such  as  appears  on  some  old  Assyrian  seal-cylinders. 
Tel  Harire  is  said  to  be  sand  hills  blown  up.  We  first  struck 
a  square  wall,  small,  evidently  artificial.  On  the  river  side 
a  wall  ran  off  in  a  circular  form  and  came  around  to  a  large 
hill  of  pebbles,   pottery,  alabaster  walls,  etc.,  with  an  Arab 


366  NIPPUR. 

graveyard  on  the  top,  garnished  with  upright  sticks  or  poles. 
Harire  was  the  site  of  a  considerable  city,  but  the  hills  with 
their  gravel  and  pebbles  seemed  to  be  in  part  natural,  as  the 
plain  is  of  fine  clayey  alluvium.  Pottery  is  not  very  abund- 
ant. There  were  almost  no  bricks,  but  considerable  alabas- 
ter. The  walls  did  not  go  around  to  Medkuk,  which  is  more 
than  a  mile  away,  and  is  chiefly  a  natural  hill  of  gravel,  a  sort 
of  island  in  the  alluvium,  apparently  utilized,  as  if  squared  for 
a  ziggurat,  or  defence,  although  the  square  sides  were  not  very 
plain,  and  Sterrett  doubted  them.  There  were  pottery,  ala- 
baster, etc.,  there,  and  large  modern  graves  on  the  top.  East- 
southeast  from  Medkuk  is  a  large  hill  with  graves,  and  beyond 
that  is  a  moat  running  north-northwest,  parallel  with  the  far- 
ther side. 

At  2.35  we  reached  Salahieh,  a  khan  with  tents  about  it. 
The  caravan  had  taken  the  direct  road,  and  had  been  five 
and  a  half  hours  on  the  way.  As  soon  as  possible  after  reach- 
ing Salahieh  I  went  to  the  top  of  the  bluff.  It  goes  off  quite 
level  wdth  small  stones.  The  face  of  the  bluff  is  of  layers  of 
gypsum  and  clay.  In  places  it  has  tumbled  down  in  enormous 
masses  from  the  crumbling  of  the  clay,  and  has  rolled  a  great 
distance  on  the  plain.  From  the  bluff  I  saw  Medkuk  and  Kan 
Kalessi,  and  returned  to  make  inquiries.  I  was  told  that  the 
caravan  road  would  not  pass  the  latter,  so  I  took  Noorian  and 
went  to  visit  it.  The  distance  Avas  a  mile  and  a  half  along  the 
foot  of  the  bluff,  and  then  went  up  the  ravine  by  the  old  city. 
It  consists  of  a  long  line  of  masonry  fortifications,  all  of  gyp- 
sum, running  around  two  ravines,  which  themselves  give  a 
strong  protection.  The  walls  follow  the  line  of  the  ravines, 
and  have  square  bastions.  It  is  an  immense  work.  The  wall 
on  the  Syrian  side  is  thick  and  high,  and  strengthened  with 
square  towers,  and  the  central  gate  is  almost  completely  pre- 
served. It  is  an  arch,  or  succession  of  arches,  with  chambers 
over  the  gate,  and  its  doors  are  one  of  them  rectangular  and 
the  other  pointed. 

Friday,  April  3d.  Left  Salahieh  at  6.18.  Sterrett,  Haynes, 
and  I  went  to  see  and  photograph  Kan  Kalessi.  I  went  to 
Bearings  from  Kan  Kalessi:  Medkuk,  147^°  ;  Abu-Kemal,  146.° 


APPENDIX  F.  367 

the  larger  enclosure  on  the  smaller  hill.  Inside  were  rooms 
about  the  walls.  The  entrance  was  a  round  arch.  I  observed 
three  round  arches,  two  small  doors  with  pointed  top,  and  one 
castellated.  As  we  came  in  to  Meyadin  we  went  to  see  Re- 
haba.  It  is  a  large  mediaeval  castle,  occupying  an  isolated 
hill  left  by  the  forkings  of  the  mouth  of  a  defile  from  the 
plateau.  It  is  immensely  strong.  It  has  stone  and  brick 
foundations,  and  holes  for  arquebuses.  Behind  the  small 
front  windows  I  found  inside  large  pointed-arched  recesses 
in  a  second  wall.  The  inside  is  divided  into  spaces,  and 
rooms,  and  substructures,  and  there  are  in  the  wall  round 
holes  for  timber,  and  the  ends  of  some  beams  are  preserved. 
There  is  a  well  inside  sixty  feet  deep.  Half-way  down  the 
well  there  seems  to  be  a  platform,  perhaps  connected  with 
the  substruction  stones. 

The  valleys  on  our  way  were  rich  and  wide.  The  up-land 
-exhibits  flowers  and  thin  grass  and  stones.  English  sparrows 
abound  everywhere,  such  as  we  noticed  at  Erbil,  clinging  in 
multitudes  to  the  inside  vertical  wall  of  the  khan.  There  is 
an  abundance  of  storks.  Saw  one  wild  boar  to-day,  and 
abundance  of  signs  of  their  rooting.  The  valley  is  wide  here 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  The  ascent  to  Castle  Rehaba 
is  very  difficult,  and  possible  only  in  front.  The  castle  is  full 
of  towers,  and  re-entrant  angles,  and  varieties  of  construction, 
and  shows  bricks  laid  in  ornamental  patterns.  Other  build- 
ings were  not  found,  having  been  mostly  removed  to  build 
Meyadin,  which  is  more  properly  Meyadhin,  meaning  scales. 
It  has  a  little  artificial  hill.  Here  we  got  accommodations  in 
a  clean,  private  house  with  an  ample  yard. 

Saturday,  April  4th.  Left  Meyadhin  at  8.00.  The  tops 
of  the  houses  are  used  to  store  fuel,  dung,  and  bushes,  which 
makes  them  look  as  if  they  contained  storks'  nests.  A  door 
of  a  mosque  here  is  made  of  boards  of  the  boxes  which  con- 
tain the  large  oil-cans,  and  is  labelled  very  unecclesiastically, 
"  Pratt's  Radiant  Oil,  Guaranty  Patent  Can."  The  mosque 
had  three  pyramidal  domes,  and  a  yard  with  fig-trees.  10.08 
el-Buseira,  and  little  Sle'a,  and  Tel  Sheikh  Tsa  well  in  sight. 
10.40  a  little  tel  with  pottery  and  bricks  by  the  road.     10.52 


368  NIPPUR. 

another  smaller,  insignificant  tel  by  the  road,  a^lso  one  east  of 
the  road.  At  10.40  Kara'at  'Asef  ;  10.52  Abd-edh-Dhahar  ; 
11.00  Kariat  jNIohammed  el  'Ssaf  ;  11. 45-1 2.00  a  long  line  of 
hills  a  mile  or  two  to  the  east,  on  this  side  of  the  river,  called 
Ta'us  el-Hubs  ("sand  heaps  of  the  bread"?).  They  say 
there  is  no  pottery  there,  but  it  looks  artificial.  At  12.20  an- 
other insignificant  tel,  just  to  the  left  of  the  road  ;  12.30  long 
hill  and  ziaret  Abu  Nahud  in  the  distance  near  the  river  ;  12.47 
another  similar  tel  to  the  right,  and  remains  of  a  canal  parallel 
to  the  road.     Reached  the  city  of  Deir  in  7.45  hours. 

Sunday,  April  5th.  Remained  in  the  khan  and  took  a  walk 
across  to  the  large  cultivated  island.  Yesterday  Noorian  and 
I  called  on  the  Mutessarif.  He  preferred  to  talk  French,  and 
was  curt  and  sharp.  To-day  when  Noorian  went  to  engage 
zaptiehs  he  said  that  he  could  give  us  but  two,  and  would  not 
warrant  our  safety,  also  that  we  must  not  wear  our  suspicious 
white  helmets,  but  should  put  on  turbans.  I  have  given  up 
my  plan  to  go  to  the  Khabor,  and  we  start  to-morrow  for 
Palmyra. 

Monday,  April  6th.  Cloudy.  We  had  engaged  three 
camels  to  carry  water  and  barley  to  Sukhne,  but  later  reports 
tell  of  plenty  of  water,  and  we  have  given  up  the  camels  and 
hired  two  horses  at  a  mejid  a  day  for  the  two  to  Damascus. 
Left  Deir  at  2.00.  Took  a  farewell  view  of  the  Euphrates  at 
2.15  from  the  hill.  Struck  out  southeast  into  the  undulating 
plain.  There  are  flowers  and  sparse  grass.  A  slight  rain. 
Stopped  at  3.58  by  a  little  stream,  Wadi  Melha  ("salty"). 
It  is  somewhat  brackish.  We  saw  some  signs  of  petroleum. 
Wherever  you  dig  you  find  brackish  water. 

Tuesday,  April  7th.  Started  at  7.25,  a  threatening  day. 
At  2.25  reached  an  old  deserted  station  with  a  well  and  no 
inhabitants.  At  1.50  we  had  begun  to  strike  a  series  of  ridge 
swells,  with  ledge  faces.  The  station  is  by  one  of  these  ridges 
showing  lime  and  white  gypsum.  Went  to  look  for  plants. 
Found  the  curious  red  and  orange  thistle  head  from  which 
the  people  get  the  gum  they  chew  to  relieve  thirst.  I  cut  off 
one  of  these  thistles  near  the  ground,  and  waited  a  moment 
for  the  thick  juice  to  gather,  and  put  it  in  my  mouth,  and  was 


APPENDIX  F.  369 

surprised  to  find  in  a  minute  a  piece  of  caoutchouc.  The 
people  clear  away  the  earth  about  the  root,  cut  it  off  five 
inches  below  the  surface,  and  put  a  clean  stone  by  the  cut  to 
catch  the  juice.  A  vigorous  plant  will  produce  a  piece  of 
two  square  inches,  and  nearly  half  an  inch  thick.  The  gum 
has  a  soluble,  bitter  element,  which  tastes  like  that  in  spruce 
gum.  It  is  brittle,  and  when  put  in  water  the  bitter  element 
dissolves  out,  leaving  what  appears  to  be  a  sort'  of  white  rub- 
ber. Perhaps  it  might  be  profitably  cultivated.  The  head  is 
compound,  composed  of  a  number  of  heads,  with  a  number 
of  thick  seeds  about  a  central  one.  We  met  nearly  a  dozen 
donkeys  loaded  with  sacks  of  truffles  for  the  Deir  market. 
They  grow  as  large  as  a  smallish  potato,  and  are  very  tender 
and  tasteless,  and  have  no  signs  of  attachment  anywhere. 
They  were  brought  from  beyond  Sukhne,  and  are  found  in 
the  desert  by  searching  for  places  where  the  ground  is  raised 
by  the  growing  truffle.  We  bought  some  as  an  addition  to 
our  desert  cuisine.  The  station  bears  the  name  of  Bir  Kaba- 
jub,  or  Kabakub.  The  walls  of  the  inner  rooms  are  all 
broken  down.  Besides  the  well  there  are  some  pools  in  the 
valley  of  the  Wadi  Kabajub  up  the  stream,  in  a  wide  defile. 
The  water  is  brackish. 

Wednesday,  April  8th.  Left  Kabajub  at  5.55.  After  a  few 
minutes  we  had  the  level  plain.  At  9.05  crossed  the  Daijeh 
hills  ;  9.25  reached  the  top  of  the  plateau.  The  ground  is 
generally  light  reddish,  cultivable,  not  many  stones,  undulat- 
ing, and  occasional  ledges  crop  out.  We  saw  in  the  distance 
a  longish  mountain,  Jebel  Dhahak  ("  laughing "),  the  top 
white,  almost  like  snow  ;  also  in  the  distance  the  separate 
hills,  or  high  mountains,  el-Menshar,  two  hours  from  Sukhne. 
Reached  a  pool,  in  a  low  piece  of  ground  with  hills  to  right 
and  left,  at  1.47.  The  pool  is  some  twelve  rods  long,  and  is 
called  Ebweb. 

Thursday,  April  9th.  Yesterday  we  saw  a  plant  consisting 
simply  of  a  large  crimson  spadix,  said  to  be  a  food  plant  ; 
also  met  over  a  dozen  donkeys  with  truffles.  Started  from 
Ebweb  at  7.20.  Rode  through  a  broad  valley  ;  no  stream  or 
wadi  ;    clayey  ;    patches  of   pink  vegetation,  stock   and  the 


370  NIPPUR. 

prostrate  Polygonum — like  the  plant  I  had  seen  in  Babylonia. 
In  front  is  what  1  suppose  to  be  Dhahak,  with  its  white  de- 
clivity. At  9.35  we  reach  the  white  cliffs,  to  the  right  of 
Dhahak.  It  looks  like  a  white  talus  of  clay  below  the  reddish- 
white  layers  of  limestone,  but  it  is  all  a  soft  rock,  clayish  to 
the  taste,  and  soft  in  the  mouth,  worn  like  clay.  Stopped 
ten  minutes  to  water  the  animals  in  a  sink-hole,  called  'Adi 
el-Zeir.  Went  up  out  of  the  basin,  and  over  a  long  water- 
shed, and  started  down  into  another  fine  basin,  with  flints. 
12.00  conical  white  hill  to  left,  and  several  smaller  buttes  ; 
ground  of  white  clay.      Reached  Sukhne  at  i.oo. 

Just  west  of  Sukhne,  half  a  mile  off,  is  the  edge  of  a  ridge  of 
limestone.  Sheikh  Wasl,  with  two  domes  of  a  tomb  on  it. 
Thence  the  ridge  ascends,  and  runs  off  E.  N.  E.  to  W.  S.  W., 
high,  narrow,  on  both  sides  a  clay  plain.  The  long  succession 
of  white  bluff  cliffs  to  our  right  ended  here  in  a  succession  of 
three.  In  front  a  line  of  hills  crossed  my  view  from  southwest 
to  where  they  were  lost  behind  the  jutting  white  cliffs  in  the 
northwest.  A  fine  lot  of  new  flowers  on  the  hill,  and  petrified 
shells.  Flint  and  chalcedony  in  masses  on  the  top,  I  found 
the  rock  on  top  of  the  hill  a  calcareous  conglomerate  with 
small  pebbles,  sharks'  teeth,  and  shells.  The  top  of  Sheikh 
Wasl  is  full  of  shell  fossils,  a  hard  limestone  with  much  flint. 
Near  the  bottom  of  the  hill  comes  out  the  white,  clayey  rock, 
which  seems  to  be  without  fossils,  and  with  considerable 
crystalline  segregations,  and  here  and  there  a  thin  layer  run- 
ning across  vertically. 

We  went  to  see  the  springs  to  the  southwest  of  the  town, 
along  the  road  to  Tadmor.  There  are  perhaps  five  or  six  of 
them,  some  warm  and  sulphurous.  They  have  one  for  the 
men  to  bathe  in,  and  one,  with  earth  piled  high  about  it,  for 
the  women.  The  business  of  the  people  of  Sukhne  is  not 
agriculture,  but  they  are  catajis,  doing  the  carrying  trade  to 
Aleppo,  Damascus,  Deir,  etc.  Twenty  or  thirty  years  ago 
there  were  400  houses,  but  the  Anazeh  Arabs  attacked  them, 
and  now  there  are  but  forty  or  fifty. 

Friday,  April  loth.  Left  el-Sukhne  at  6.30.  Stopped  to 
see  springs  and  bathe.     6.55  a  solitary  white  hill  to  our  left. 


APPEXDIX  F.  371 

The  nearer  range  of  hills  on  the  right  begins  here.  It  is  lower, 
and  of  the  undulating  soft  rock.  The  hills  to  the  left  are  the 
same,  and  look  like  bluffs.  At  9.45  another  wide  basin.  Passed 
on  the  left  the  site  of  an  old  town, — said  to  be  Kafrein, — a 
well,  and  a  square  cistern,  the  latter  not  in  sight  from  the 
road.  At  10.55  '^'^  ^^*i  risen  to  the  table-land.  Two  ridges  of 
parallel  hills  to  the  right, — the  nearer  white,  the  farther  ir- 
regular and  higher.  In  front  to  the  left,  near,  is  a  short  line  of 
isolated  hills  ;  and  in  the  blue  distance  to  the  left  a  horizon  of 
apparent  hills.  At  11.25  passed  a  ruined  town  two  miles  to  the 
right,  called  Karas.  "We  have  risen  higher  to  the  level  of  the 
white  rock,  and  immediately  descend.  At  11. 3S  a  Roman 
milestone;  12.25  "^^'^ter  in  two  holes  on  a  high  level,  in  thin 
gravel ;  i.oo  down  a  sharp  pitch  from  the  plateau. 

Reached  Erek  at  1.30.  Here  a  spring  comes  out  of  a  hill 
and  runs  through  a  deep  cut,  largely  artificial,  partly  covered 
wath  bridges  of  the  upper  layer  of  the  natural  rock.  The 
water  is  good,  slightly  sulphurous.  The  stream  is  not  copious. 
A  few  maiden-hair  ferns  grow  in  the  deep  cut.  The  stream 
empties  into  a  small  black  pond,  out  of  which  several  canals 
run,  of  which  only  one  can  run  at  a  time.  The  fields  are 
larger  and  better  than  at  Sukhne,  although  there  is  much  less 
water.  They  grow  barley  and  a  little  wheat,  and  durra  from 
the  same  fields  in  summer,  with  all  sorts  of  vegetables.  The 
Khaya  gave  me  specimens  of  the  durra,  which  is  the  tall 
millet,  in  foliage  like  the  Indian  corn,  and  in  the  head  like 
broom-corn.  He  said  there  are  twenty  or  thirty  houses  in 
Erek.  There  is  beyond  the  spring  a  natural  hill  of  white 
stone  and  clay,  with  old  graves,  and  many  artificial  flint  chips 
about  it.  No  "  antikas  "  in  the  town.  I  observed  fragments 
of  fluted  columns. 

Saturday,  April  nth.  Left  Erek  at  6.50,  and  immediately 
rose  to  a  table-land.  At  7.40  began  to  descend.  At  7.52  a  vast 
plain,  limited  by  a  line  of  low  hills  just  visible  on  the  left, 
with  mountains  in  front  and  to  the  right  ;  7.55  a  Roman  mile- 
stone to  the  right,  with  a  few  letters  visible  on  the  under  side  ; 
9.00  a  very  little  tel,  with  walls  of  a  small,  arched,  mud-brick 
house,  partly  standing,  and  well ;  9.20  a  standing  milestone 
with  inscription  : 


372  NIPPUR. 

D.   X. 
CONSTANTINO. 

Also  two  fragments  of  another,  of  which  one  had  the  legible 
inscription  : 

D.  N. 

CONSTANTINO  NOB 

C.  S. 

STRATA 

DIOCLETIANA 

A  PALMYRA 

ARACHA 

VIII. 
Sterrett  and  I  spent  some  time  galloping  over  the  plain  in 
search  of  other  milestones.  Reached  Tadmor  soon  after  noon. 
Remained  in  Tadmor  from  Saturday,  April  nth,  till  Thurs- 
day A.M.,  April  i6th.  This  time  I  devoted  to  search  for  Pal- 
myrene  inscriptions,  while  Sterrett  worked  over  Greek 
inscriptions,  and  Haynes  took  photographs.  I  had  hoped  to 
leave  Tuesday,  but  we  had  too  much  to  do  photographing  and 
copying.  We  were  all  kept  most  busy,  and  had  scarcely  time 
to  note  the  ruins.  Not  having  made  any  study  of  the  work  of 
Waddington  and  others,  all  was  new.  Sterrett  found  two  aque- 
ducts coming  from  the  hills.  There  are  two  good  fountains, 
one  near  the  town,  which  occupies  the  old  walled  Temple  of 
the  Sun,  and  the  other,  a  copious  warm  spring,  up  by  the 
hill.  There  is  a  hot  bath  by  it,  covered  with  a  little  dome, 
which  I  did  not  happen  to  see  till  just  as  we  passed  it, 
leaving  Palmyra.  I  went  all  over  the  ruins  and  the  tombs, 
looking  for  Palmyrene  inscriptions,  and  on  one  occasion, 
when  at  the  extreme  edge  of  the  place,  visiting  one  of  the  fine, 
tall  tombs,  quite  unarmed,  I  was  threatened  with  a  gun 
pointed  at  me  by  one  of  a  party  of  Arabs  going  out  into  the 
desert.  I  spent  most  of  my  time  over  the  octroi  edict  by  the 
temple  of  Osiris,  which  it  identifies,  as  it  mentions  that  it  is 
set  up  near  this  temple.  The  man  who  found  this  magnificent 
inscription  told   me  that  the  previous  Mudir  had  put  him  in 

See  Vol  III.  of  the  Papers  of  the  American  School  of  Classical  Studies  at 
Athens,     pp.  436-43S. 


APPENDIX  F.  373 

prison  for  finding  it,  and  would  not  let  him  out  until  his  friends 
had  paid  450  piastres.  He  wanted  to  know  why  he  was  find- 
ing things  to  show  to  strangers.  We  had  him  dig  out  the  sand 
from  before  it.  He  said  no  traveller  had  seen  and  copied  it, 
and  we  thought  we  had  discovered  a  great  treasure,  and 
hastened  to  copy  and  translate  it,  but  on  reaching  Damascus 
we  learned  from  the  French  Consul  that  it  had  just  been  pub- 
lished, and  our  labor  thus  anticipated.  The  Mudir  showed 
us  some  thirty  Palmyrene  heads,  which  he  had  piled  up, 
mostly  with  Palmyrene  inscriptions,  generally  in  good  condi- 
tion, of  which  we  took  photographs.  We  took  squeezes  of 
this  octroi  inscription,  but  they  were  stolen  from  the  stone 
before  they  were  dry.  This  immense  inscription  is  on  a 
single  slab  of  marble,  and  is  on  four  panels,  each  of  two  col- 
umns, one  Palmyrene  and  the  other  Greek.  Unfortunately 
large  portions  are  illegible,  but  the  two  columns  supplement 
each  other,  and  the  whole  gives  a  clear  understanding  of 
the  source  of  the  wealth  of  Palmyra,  from  the  duties  which 
every  caravan  and  every  traveller  paid  for  the  privilege  of 
the  fountain. 

Some  of  the  high  tower  tombs  have  a  cave  tomb  connected 
with  them.  One  tomb  is  of  fine  marble,  mostly  in  good  con- 
dition, with  paintings  on  the  carved  ceiling.  The  writing  is 
often  in  red  paint.  The  tombs  have  great  stone  doors,  gen- 
erally broken  to  pieces.  We  saw  one  with  the  cross  panels 
and  wreaths,  probably  seven  feet  high,  four  wide,  and  one 
thick,  with  big  dowel  projections  for  sockets.  There  are  a 
number  of  these  stone  doors  still  in  use,  one  is  in  the  hole  in 
the  wall  of  the  temple  by  which  one  goes  to  the  Mudir's  office, 
another  opens  to  a  garden.  The  plan  of  everything  would  be 
easy  to  make  out  and  reconstruct.  The  walls,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  temple  of  Osiris  (Rabasira),  were  thrown  outward  by 
an  earthquake,  and  lie  there  in  their  exact  orderly  arrange- 
ment. Across  them  a  French  explorer  of  note  had  left  his 
name  in  large  letters,  quite  in  contrast  to  the  minute  penciled 
names  of  Messrs.  Irby  and  Mangles,  which  I  was  so  fortunate 
as  to  find  inconspiciously  recorded  with  their  date  on  a  lintel 
in  one  of  the  tombs. 


374  NIPPUR. 

Thursday,  April  i6th.  Left  Palmyra  at  8.50,  and  ascended 
the  hills,  past  the  high  tombs,  to  the  plateau,  with  chalk 
hills  to  the  right,  and  ragged  limestone  hills  to  the  left.  At 
10.00  we  passed  a  number  of  wells  called  Abu  Fuaris,  two 
now  in  use,  and  at  10.45  an  Arab  camp.  The  soil  is  clayey, 
no  stones,  on  the  level  of  the  chalk  rock.  At  11.35  the  ragged 
line  of  high  limestone  hills,  called  Jebel  Abyad,  which  we 
have  had  on  our  right  for  an  hour,  begins  to  fade  into  chalk  ; 
on  the  right  are  the  high  limestone  hills,  Jebel  Hayin,  both 
about  two  miles  distant.  We  learn  that  the  hills  about 
Palmyra  are  el-j\Iuntar  to  the  right,  to  the  left  Umm  Melkis, 
We  are  pointing  due  west  to  Jebel  el-Teyas.  12.30  a  Roman 
milestone  with  name  of  Antoninus,  No  time  to  work  out  the 
rest.  Another  soon  after,  in  its  regular  place.  About  fifteen 
minutes  later,  another,  the  XIII.  mile,  also  Antoninus  ;  then 
another,  the  XVIII.  5.15  by  the  big  range  of  mountains  to 
the  right  which  we  had  been  aiming  for  all  day.  At  6.45  we 
reached  water  at  Teyas,  and  a  beautiful  wide  valley  of  white 
heavy  soil,  clayey,  which  holds  good  water.  A  magnificent 
vast  extent  of  grass,  knee  high.  We  pitched  our  tent  in  the 
high  grass,  but  nearer  the  head  of  the  valley  was  a  good  place 
which  we  did  not  find  in  the  dark.  We  found  eight  mile- 
stones during  the  day,  four  in  position,  three  in  order.  They 
inform  us  that  Antoninus  Pius  made  the  road,  and  mention 
Septimius  Severus,  and  Marcus  Aurelius.  Several  had  the  dis- 
tances from  Palmyra.  The  Roman  road  ran  to  the  north  of 
the  big  mountain  we  were  aiming  at,  and  we  had  to  leave  it. 
We  would  not  have  struck  it,  perhaps,  if  we  had  not  gone  out 
of  our  regular  caravan  road,  the  guide  being  about  to  take  us 
by  a  longer  route  that  gave  us  longer  days  and  shorter  time. 

Friday,  April  17th.  Started  at  7.30.  The  snow  of  Lebanon 
just  visible  in  the  southwest  through  the  mist.  On  our  left  on 
a  distant  hill  was  a  tall  building,  like  a  tomb  of  Palmyra.  As 
we  rose  on  the  plain,  a  few  remains  of  ruins  at  the  edge  of  the 
valley.  At  1,30  ruins  on  the  distant  hill  to  the  right  ;  5.10  an 
inconspicuous  ruin  ;  5.15  a  well  of  water  ;  5.22  a  small  valley 
of  grass,  not  as  good  as  last  night,  and  a  dozen  wells  of  water, 
with  scum  on  top.     Pitched  here  at  Feraklus.     It  had  been 


APPEXDIX  F.  375 

an  uninteresting  day,  except  as  Lebanon  had  been  constantly 
in  sight,  the  northern  line  covered  with  snow,  and  that  to  the 
south  streaked  on  the  top  with  snow.  Mostly  a  fair  soil,  not 
very  strong,  and  the  mountain  ridges  at  right  and  left  more 
receding.  We  saw  more  signs  of  the  ruins  of  the  outlying 
important  towns  of  Palmyra. 

Saturday,  April  iSth.  Left  Feraklus  at  7.38.  At  8.25  con- 
siderable ruins  of  a  city  with  low  walls  of  unhewn,  or  decayed 
stone.  Buttercups.  At  10  30  a  valley  and  wells  or  pits ; 
anemones  ;  11. 10  plowed  fields  ;  11.30  a  cone  (kubab)  village, 
— the  Syrian  Christian  part  kubab,  the  Mohammedan  stone 
and  mud,  both  good, — called  Abu  Deli.  At  12.30  village  of 
Sukara,  or  Sakhra  ;  1.45  village  of  Zeda,  all  Christian,  100 
houses  ;  2.30  Horns.  Here  we  reached  the  black  trachyte. 
Heard  of  a  stone  representing  a  man  hunting  a  lion,  which 
was  found  near  here,  and  sold  and  carried  off. 

From  Homs  we  went  to  Damascus,  and  thence  to  Beirout, 
by  a  route  that  needs  no  description. 


END  OF  VOL.  I. 


POPULAR    ARCHAEOLOGY. 


IRome     anb      pOmpeii.— Archaeological    Rambles. 

Translated  by  D.  Havelock  Fisher.     With  maps  and 

plans.     8vo        ......         $2.50 

"  Gaston  Boisser  is  a  refreshing  writer  with  whom  to  travel 
^  .  .  He  gives  us  ideas  and  improves  our  knowledge,  while  im- 
proving his  own,  and  adds  to  the  treasures  of  his  memory  what  can  be 
gained  by  direct  contract  with  events  and  even  with  ruins ;  .  .  . 
particularly  interesting  and  valuable  are  the  notes  to  be  found  in  his 
archffiological  rambles." — Fan's  Correspondent  of  N,  Y.  Evening  Post. 

B  /IDanual  of  BrCl)a:OlO0\?.— Containing  an  Intro- 
duction to  Egyptian,  Oriental,  Greek,  Etruscan,  and 
and  Roman  Art.  By  Talfourd  Ely,  Author  of 
"  Olympus:  Tales  of  the  Gods  of  Greece  and  Rome." 
With  114  illustrations,  8vo  .         .         .         $2.00 

"  For  a  brief  yet  comprehensive  account  of  the  earliest  art,  we 
know  of  nothing  better.  .  .  .  After  a  careful  examination,  we 
say   that   Mr.    Ely's   statements   are   scholarly   and    trustworthy." — 

Christian  Union. 

BGPPtiaU  HrCba:OlO0V?.  By  G.  Maspero.  Trans- 
lated from  the  French  by  Amelia  B.  Edwards. 
With  229  illustrations.     8vo,  gilt  top  .         $2.25 

"  A  rich  and  enjoyable  book  in  every  way  satisfactory  and  fasci- 
nating. It  is  delightful  to  find  frankness,  accuracy,  and  scholarship 
united  in  the  production  of  this  work,  which  makes  the  humanity  of 
vanished  Egypt  live  again." — The  Critic. 

IFlippur  \  Or  Explorations  and  Adventures  on  the 
Euphrates.  The  Narrative  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  Expedition  to  Babylonia,  in  the  years 
1888-1890.  By  John  Punnett  Peters,  D.D., 
Director  of  the  Expedition.  With  over  100  illus- 
trations and  maps.     Two  volumes,  8vo,  each  $2.50. 

"A  splendid  work,  which  is  to  be  classed  among  the  most  re- 
markable of  modern  archceological  researches." — New  York  Times, 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S   SONS,  New  York  and  London. 


POPULAR  ARCH/EOLOGY. 


primitive  ^an  in  Obio.— By  warrex  k.  moore- 

HEAD,  Fellow  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  author  of  "  Fort  Ancient, 
the  Great  Prehistoric  Earthwork  of  Warren  County, 
Ohio."     Svo.     Fully  illustrated  ,         .         S3.00 

This  book  which  is  a  companion  work  to  Nadaillac's  "  Prehis- 
toric America,"  is  the  result  of  the  observations  of  the  author  and 
his  collaborators  in  Ohio  during  a  number  of  years  ;  their  deductions, 
are  made  from  the  testimony  of  the  burial-places,  village  sites,  and 
fortifications  marking  various  epochs  in  primeval  man's  existence.  It 
is  a  comprehensive  statement  of  their  discoveries  related  without 
ornamentation. 

IPrebiStOriC  HmeriCa.  By  the  Marquis  de  Xadail- 
LAC.  Translated  by  Nancy  Bell  (N.  D'Anvers), 
author  of  "  History  of  Art."  Edited,  with  Notes, 
by  W.  H.  Dall.  Large  octavo,  with  219  illustrations. 
Popular  edition  .....         $3.oo- 

"The  best  book  on  this  subject  that  has  yet  been  published, 
.  .  .  for  the  reason  that,  as  a  record  of  facts,  it  is  unusually  full, 
and  because  it  is  the  first  comprehensive  work  in  which,  discarding 
all  the  old  and  worn-out  nostrums  about  the  existence  on  this  con- 
tinent of  an  extinct  civilization,  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with, 
conclusions  that  are  based  upon  a  careful  comparison  of  architectural 
and  other  prehistoric  remains  with  the  arts  and  industries,  the  manners 
and  customs  of  '  the  only  people,  except  the  whites,  who,  so  far  as  we 
know,  have  ever  held  the  regions  in  which  these  remains  are  found,'  " 
— Nation. 

"  His  book  is  one  which  no  anthropologist  should  be  without^ 
It  gathers  into  one  critical  and  incredulous  volume  all  that  is  most 
solid,  sure,  and  trustworthy  in  the  whole  realm  of  American  archoe- 
ology." — Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

'Cbe  Customs  anC>  /IDonuments  of  prebistoric 

Peoples.  By  the  Marquis  de  Nadaillac. 
Translated  with  the  permission  of  the  author,  by 
Nancy  Bell  (N.  D'Anvers).     Large   octavo.     Fully 

illustrated $3-oo 

"  To  the  student  of  archseology  and  anthropology  this  book  is 
invaluable,  to  the  class  interested  in  the  knowledge  and  speculation 
concerning  the  primeval  races  it  will  be  a  rare  book  for  the  library^ 
for  the  world  at  large  it  will  be  a  contribution  to  scientific  litera- 
ture not  to  be  forgotten." — Cohimbtis  Despatch. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  New  York  and  Lo.ndon. 


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